PSY 001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 20: Social Proof, Stationary Point, Social Influence
12 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Psych – Social Psychology
Jadzia Wray
What is…?
- Social psychology
o The scientific study of how we influence one another's behavior and thinking
o Focuses on how situational forces influence our behavior and thinking
▪ Context, culture, environment
- Social influence
o Examines how other people and the social forces they create influence an individual's
behavior
▪ What effect does the behavior of others have on you
Others influence our behavior: why we conform
- Conformity
o Defined as a change in behavior, belief, or both to conform to a group norm as a result of
real or imagined group pressure
o Has negative connotations in Western cultures; some conformity is needed for society to
function
▪ Want a balance but not to be fully controlled
The Sheriff Study
- Participants were placed in a completely dark room and exposed to a stationary point of light to
estimate the distance this light moved.
- The light never moved (autokinetic effect), but participants reported movement when alone and
in a group setting.
o After several exposures, the individual estimates converged on a common group norm.
o A year later, participants were brought back and made estimates alone; these estimates
remained at the group norm.
What did this indicate about social influence?
We roughly try to come up with something acceptable.
- Informational social influence effect
o Impact of informational social influence that stems from the desire to be correct in
situations in which the correct action of judgment is uncertain
The Asch Study
- In Asch's study, visual judgments were easy visual
discriminations involving line-length judgments.
- Correct answer/behavior was obvious.
o When making such judgments alone, almost no
mistakes were made.
o Experimental confederates, part of the experimental
setting, made deliberate mistakes on certain trials
▪ Were asked to match which line from part 2
was the same as part 1. People were likely to
conform to the one that others said if they said
it first.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
- About 75% of the participants gave an obviously wrong answer at least once, and overall,
conformity occurred 37% of the time.
- This ofoit oued despite the fat that the oet answer, unlike in Sheriff's study, was
obvious.
o People can completely see that one answer is wrong and that the other is right, yet they
want to be accepted and will pick the wrong answer
- Asch's results illustrate the power of normative social influence, influence stemming from our
desire to gain the approval of and to avoid the disapproval of other people.
Situational Factors that Impact Conformity
- If the goup is uaious, ofoit ill iease. If oe peso is diffeet soeho, it allows
other people to avoid conforming.
o We will say our answer if only one other person thinks differently because then it is not
only us thinking a different answer.
- The mode of responding is also critical. Secret ballots lead to less conformity than public, verbal
reports.
o Nood kos ou opiio ad ou do’t feel judged o uaepted
- The status of group members intervenes. More conformity is observed from a person that is of
lesser status than the other group members or is attracted to the group and wants to be part of
it.
o If you have the lesser status, you are more likely to conform
o We make relations to financial standing with intelligence, even though there is no
correlation. So we follow them.
Cultural Factors that impact of observed conformity
- Bond and Smith (1996): Meta-analyses from 17 countries using Asch-type line-length conformity
judgment tasks indicate cultural and gender differences.
o Countries were dissent was bad had higher levels of conformity and made more errors
▪ Women were more likely to conform
o Couties hee disset as’t ad had lower levels of conformity and less errors
- Mori and Arai (2010): Data from fMRI technique replicated previous findings using new
presentation technique
o Looked at parts of the brain related to conformity
o Self-esteem is an indicator of how you function in life in general
Why We Comply
- Social psychologists have identified many different techniques that help others to achieve
compliance:
o Foot-in-the-door
o Door-in-the-face
o Low-ball
o That's-not-all
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Compliance Techniques: Foot in the door
- Freedman and Fraser's (1966) classic yard sign study
o Used by Chinese Communists in Korean War on prisoners of war
o Compliance to a large request gained by prefacing it with a very small, almost mindless
request
o Technique works because behavior (complying with the initial request) affects attitudes,
leading to more positive helping behavior and a view of oneself as a generally charitable
person
o Ask someone for small thing and then they will say yes to bigger thing because they
already said yes to the small thing.
Compliance Techniques: Door in the Face
- Opposite of the foot-in-the-door technique
o Compliance gained by starting with a large unreasonable request that is turned down and
then following it with a more reasonable smaller request
o Success due to tendency toward reciprocity and making mutual concessions
- Start with large unreasonable request and then ask for reasonable one so that in comparison the
other one looks not as bad
- Ex: telling a certain group to spend a lot of money –> unreasonable, then say that the government
will do it and they will agree.
Compliance Techniques: Low Ball
- Compliance to a costly request is achieved by first getting compliance to an attractive, less costly
request, but then reneging on it.
o Many feel obligated to go through with a deal after agreeing to an earlier request, even
if the first request has changed for the worse.
o People want to remain consistent in their actions
- Ask for 2 days off from work, then go back and ask for the whole week off. So because the person
already agreed to the first 2 days, they will be likely to agree to the rest of the week off because
they expected you not to be there.
Copliae Tehiues: That’s Not All
- People are more likely to comply to a request after a build-up to ake the euest soud ette.
o Technique often used in television infomercials
o As in the door-in-the-face technique, reciprocity at work
Why We Obey
- Obedience
o Involves following the commands of a person in authority
o Is good in some instances and bad in other instances
- Milgram's Experiment
- The Astroten Study
- The Jonestown Massacre
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Jadzia wray: the scientific study of how we influence one another"s behavior and thinking, focuses on how situational forces influence our behavior and thinking, context, culture, environment. Social influence: examines how other people and the social forces they create influence an individual"s behavior, what effect does the behavior of others have on you. Participants were placed in a completely dark room and exposed to a stationary point of light to estimate the distance this light moved. We roughly try to come up with something acceptable. Impact of informational social influence that stems from the desire to be correct in situations in which the correct action of judgment is uncertain. In asch"s study, visual discriminations involving line-length judgments. judgments were easy visual. People were likely to conform to the one that others said if they said it first. About 75% of the participants gave an obviously wrong answer at least once, and overall, conformity occurred 37% of the time.
