PSYC 1004: Introduction to Social Psychology

Lecture 5 Notes – Social Influence

Learning Objectives
At the end of the lecture, you should be able to:
 Describe the factors that influence conformity
 Describe the basic principles of compliance and how they function
 Explain symbolic social influence
 Analyse the role of authority in inducing obedience
 Discuss social influence in work settings

What is Social Influence?

Social Influence - efforts by one or more individuals to change the attitudes, beliefs, perceptions, or behaviours of one
or more others.
On a daily basis, we try to influence the behaviour or beliefs of others, just as others constantly try to influence us.

Conformity
A type of social influence in which individuals change their attitudes or behaviour in order to adhere to social norms.
Asch’s (1950s) Research on Conformity
 Participants were asked to indicate which of three lines matched a standard line in length.
 During the critical trials, participants had to give their answers after a unanimous group gave the wrong answer.
 76% conformed at least once to the group’s false judgment.
 Overall, they agreed with the errors 37% of the time.
 Later research found that an ally (someone who disagreed with the group) and the ability to make responses
privately both reduced conformity.

Factors that affect conformity

 Cohesiveness - The degree of attraction felt by an individual toward an influencing group. As
cohesiveness increases, conformity increases.
 Group size - As group size increases, conformity increases.
 Status - Senior group members often feel less pressure to conform.
 Descriptive Norms - What most people do in a given situation
 Injunctive Norms - Specify what ought to be done. Both can increase conformity.
 Normative Focus Theory - Predicts that people are more likely to conform to injunctive norms when they
are salient to them.
Social norms
Rules regarding how people are expected to behave in specific situations

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Situational norms
 Guide behaviour in a given situation or environment
 Can be activated automatically without conscious awareness and can exert strong effects on behaviour

Why do people conform?

Normative social influence
 Based on the desire to be liked or accepted by others.

Informational social influence

 Based on the desire to possess accurate social perceptions.
 This is an especially strong source of conformity when the task is important and difficulty and uncertainty are
high.

Research – Stanford Prison Experiment (Zimbardo, 1971)

 Aimed to determine whether participants would come to behave like real guards and real prisoners if placed in
those roles.
 The participants quickly assumed the established norms of these roles, with the guards exercising complete
control, treating the prisoners harshly, harassing and physically punishing them.
 A visiting psychologist deemed the study unethical and found that the prisoners showed signs of psychological
distress.
 Zimbardo had to end the prison simulation early, finding that the extreme behaviour exhibited by the guards
was due to the situation rather than personality traits.

Why people do not conform

Individuation
 People’s need to be distinguishable from others in some respects.
o People’s need to maintain control over their lives.

Some people cannot conform

 Due to physical, legal, or psychological reasons.

Actor-observer effect
 Tendency to attribute our own behaviour to external causes, but the actions of others to internal causes.
 Actors experience pressure to conform arising from group membership, but observers don’t as they become
sensitive to restrictions on personal freedom from synchronous behaviour.

Power
 Powerful people less dependent on others for social resources.

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Compliance
A type of social influence involving direct requests from one person to another.
Principles that underlie compliance
 Friendship/ Liking
 Commitment/ Consistency
 Reciprocity
 Scarcity
 Social Validation
 Authority

Tactics for Compliance

Tactics based on Friendship or Liking
Ingratiation
 Requesters first induce target to like them.
 Use flattery, improve one’s appearance, emit positive nonverbal cues, do small favors for target person.
Incidental similarity
 Requesters call attention to small/ surprising similarities between them and ourselves, creating a feeling of
affiliation.

Tactics based on Commitment or Consistency

Foot-in-the-door Technique
 Requesters begin with a small request and then, when it is granted, escalate to a larger one.
Lowball Procedure
 An offer or deal is changed to make it less attractive to the target person after this person has accepted it.
Lure Effect
 After target person agrees to do something appealing, they are told they are no longer needed for that task but
for something less enjoyable instead

Tactics based on Reciprocity

Door-in-the-face Technique
 Requesters begin with a large request and then, when this is refused, retreat to a smaller one.
That’s Not All Technique
 Requesters offer additional benefits to target persons before they have decided whether to comply with or
reject specific requests.

Tactics based on Scarcity

Playing Hard to Get
 Suggesting that a person or object is scarce and hard to obtain.
Deadline Technique
 Target persons are told that they have only limited time to take advantage of some offer or to obtain some item.

Sales Techniques and Cognitive Dissonance

Four walls technique
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 Question customer in such a way that gets answers consistent with the idea that they need to own object.
 Feeling of cognitive dissonance results if person chooses not to buy this thing that they “need”.
The Reciprocity Norm
 We feel obliged to return favors, even those we did not want in the first place.
 Opposite of foot-in-the-door
 Salesperson gives something to customer with idea that they will feel compelled to give something back (buying
the product).
 Even if person did not wish for favour in the first place.
What happens if you combine reciprocity norm with foot-in-the-door?
 Hypothesis - the 2 techniques will cancel each other out
 Bell et al. (1994) study
 Evidence supports hypothesis

Unintentional Social Influence

Symbolic Social Influence — influence of others even when they are not there. Results from the mental representations
of others or our relationships with them.
 People can be influenced by others even when they are not physically present.
 Thinking about others evokes relational schemas, which may trigger goals related to them.
 Goals that are associated with a person one is thinking about may be activated.
 Being reminded of these goals can increase compliance with them and strongly affect behaviour.
Emotional Contagion – when our feelings and emotions are influenced by those of others unintentionally.
Modelling – learning through observing the actions of others or using them as a guide to own behaviour in situations
where there are no clear rules for how we should behave.

Obedience to Authority
Obedience
 Form of social influence in which one person simply orders one or more others to perform some action(s).
 Compliance of person is due to perceived authority of asker. The request is perceived as a command.

Stanley Milgram’s Obedience Studies (1963, 1965a, 1974)

Basic study procedure:
 Teacher and learner (learner always confederate)
 Participants told to deliver increasing levels of shock to a “learner” each time he made an error on a learning
task.
 Watch learner being strapped into chair - learner expresses concern over his “heart condition”
 Teacher is placed into another room with experimenter.
 Shock generator panel – 15 to 450 volts, labels “slight shock” to “XXX”.
 Teacher asked to give higher shocks for every mistake learner makes.
 Learner protests more and more as shock increases.
 Experimenter continues to request obedience even if teacher hesitates.
65% obeyed to the fullest extent (proceeded to the end of the series, to the final 450-volt level).

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Similar results found in many cultures with adults and children.

Explanations for Milgram’s Results
 Abnormal group of subjects?
o Numerous successful replications with variety of groups shows that Milgram’s subjects weren’t
“abnormal.”
 People in general are sadistic?
o Videotapes of Milgram’s subjects show extreme distress.
 Authority of Yale and value of science.
 Experimenter self-assurance and acceptance of responsibility.
 Proximity of learner and experimenter.
 New situation and no model of how to behave.
Critiques to Milgram’s Study
 Although 84% later said they were glad to have participated and fewer than 2% said they were sorry, there are
still ethical issues.

Why does destructive obedience occur?

 Authority assumes responsibility
 Authority’s status is evident and reminds people of social norms to obey
 Authority’s commands involve gradual escalation (the foot-in-the-door compliance technique)
 Participants have little time for reflection or systematic processing

Resisting the effects of destructive obedience

 Increase participants’ responsibility for any harm done to others
 Indicate that total submission to authority is inappropriate
 Provide disobedient models
 Question authority’s expertise and motives
 Increase awareness of the power of the situation
 Share the results of research studies on obedience

Social Influence Goes to Work

Common tactics of social influence in work settings
 Tactics used are different depending on the status of the target person.
 Authority figures use inspirational appeal or pressure.
 Subordinates use consultation or ingratiation.
 Peers use exchange and personal appeal with each other.
 The most popular techniques are consultation, inspirational appeal, and rational persuasion.
 Pressure and legitimating are used less often.
 They tend to produce reactance, which is the desire to resist the request to comply.
Rational Persuasion - Use logical arguments and facts to persuade another to accept one’s views
Inspirational Appeal - Increase enthusiasm by appealing to values and ideals
Consultation - Ask target person to participate in decision-making or planning
Ingratiation - Increase compliance by increasing positive mood or liking

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Exchange - Promise benefit in exchange for compliance

Personal Appeal - Appeal to loyalty and friendship before request is made
Coalition-building - Seek assistance of others, mention their support
Legitimating - Mention one’s status, verify that request is consistent with policies and practices
Pressure - Use demands, threats, or intimidation

Required Reading
Social Psychology
Robert A. Baron * Nyla R. Branscombe
Chapter Eight
Social Influence: Changing Others’ Behaviour