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Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight. Conformity, Compliance, and Obedience. Conformity, Compliance, Obedience. Conformity any change in behavior caused by another person or group Compliance a change in behavior requested by another person or group Obedience

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Chapter Eight

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  1. Chapter Eight Conformity, Compliance, and Obedience

  2. Conformity, Compliance, Obedience • Conformity • any change in behavior caused by another person or group • Compliance • a change in behavior requested by another person or group • Obedience • a change in behavior that is ordered by another person or group

  3. Why Conformity? • People conform when faced with a new or unusual situation • By using the behavior of others as a guide we can (presumably) also behave in an appropriate way • Informational influence leads us to conform • we want to be right • Normative influence leads us to conform • we want to be liked

  4. Why Compliance? • People make direct requests of us all the time • salespeople, peers, friends, family • Honoring those (reasonable) requests helps maintain the social fabric • helping others and anticipating their help in the future makes for good social bonds

  5. Why Obedience? • Many people have power over us • law enforcement, parents, military • Following the direct orders of a (legitimate) authority is usually not a matter of debate • when the officer asks to see your driver’s license, it’s usually prudent to obey

  6. Conformity: Doing as Others Do • Sherif’s autokinetic effect studies • a stationary point of light in a dark room appears to move of its on accord • social norms can lead us to converge with others in estimates of the amount of movement • In this ambiguous situation, informational influence drove conformity • Norms can persist over generations

  7. Asch’s Length Judgment Studies • Asch asked people to judge the length of a line in the presence of others • judgments conformed to the estimates of the group • In this unambiguous situation, normative influence drove conformity • Crutchfield replicated and extended these original findings

  8. Limits to Conformity • Ambiguity affects the amount of conformity • Task difficulty affects the amount of conformity • Individual differences affect conformity: not everyone conforms in a given situation • Group size affects conformity • Conformity can disappear • private versus public judgments • lack of unanimity

  9. Cultural Differences in Conformity • Individualism and collectivism • members of individualistic cultures should conform less often • Independent versus interdependent self-concept • people with independent self-concepts should conform less often

  10. Gender Differences in Conformity • Women conform slightly more often than do men • the extent and magnitude of gender differences is small, though reliable • could be due to gender bias • could be due to topics studied • could be due to strivings for harmony and interdependence

  11. Compliance: Foot-in-the-Door • Foot-in-the-door • compliance with an initial, small request makes us more likely to comply with a later, larger request • Due to self-perception • Due to consistency motivations

  12. Compliance: Door-in-the-Face • Door-in-the-face • refusing an initial, large request makes us more likely to comply with a later, smaller request • Due to pressure to honor the norm of reciprocity • we feel urge to repay a favor with a favor

  13. Compliance: Free gift technique • Free gifts • giving someone a free gift also activates the norm of reciprocity • we comply to repay this nice “favor”

  14. Compliance: Low-Ball • Low-Ball • we agree to an initial, attractive deal • something happens to alter the bargain • bad elements are introduced, or good elements are removed • we still go along with the modified, worse deal

  15. Compliance: Scarcity and Liking • What is scarce is valuable • limited-time offers, limited availability make an offer seem more attractive than it might otherwise • Like-me-then-help-me • we are more likely to be influenced by attractive, nice, similar, trustworthy others

  16. Concept Review

  17. Obedience: Following Commands • Milgram’s obedience studies illustrate the capacity to obey the orders of a perceived authority • “teachers” administer electric shocks to “learners,” even to the point of incapacitation or “death” • this, despite most people’s predictions that few if any people would do so

  18. Milgram Variations • Closer proximity between teacher and learner reduced extent of obedience • Watching the proceedings, rather than participating, leads to passive acceptance of the activities • Experimenter disagreement reduces the extent of obedience

  19. The Legacy of the Milgram Experiments • Ethicality of experiments led to an examination of experimentation in the field of social psychology • Practical applications were considered • military, governmental examples of mindless obedience received a closer look

  20. Mechanisms Underlying Social Influence • Informational and normative influence • people want to be right • people want to be liked • Terror management • we don’t like contemplating our own mortality • mortality salience affects our behavior in self-affirming ways

  21. Concept Review

  22. Social Impact Theory • Strength • the intensity of social forces • Immediacy • the closeness of social forces • Number • the quantity of social forces

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