PSYC 104 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Cognitive Dissonance
PSYC104 Lecture 6 Notes 5/7/18
COMPLIANCE
- French and Raven: categorized means of compliance
oCompliance through direct behavior
Force: if you want someone to do something, you can force them to do so
Ex: use a gun, push someone out of an airplane if you want them to jump out
Legitimate authority: order someone to do something
Backed up by force
Ex: if you are ordered to do something by a police officer and you say no, can
result in using force
Rewards: do things with incentives
oCompliance through attitudes
Information: providing information to justify behavior, you can get people to do
things
Ex: if you’re in a plane, tell someone to jump out, justifying it through
information of plane failing
Expertise: telling someone to do something because you’re an expert on the subject
Backed up by information
Ex: if you’re in a plane, tell someone to jump out because you’re an expert on
the situation. If they don’t believe you, you can back yourself up using
information
People often overgeneralize expertise. If someone with a suit on jaywalks, you
are more likely to follow
Referent: you are more willing to do things that people you admire do
Ex: if your celebrity crush jumps out of an airplane, you’re more inclined to do so
- How advertisers influence compliance
oFoot-in-the-door: start with tiny request in which customers are likely to comply, then
ask for bigger request
Why does this work?
Cognitive dissonance theory (Festinger): your attitudes follow your behavior. If
you agree with the tiny request, your attitude changes to fit the belief that
you’re the kind of person that complies with salesmen, so you agree to the
bigger request
Self-perception theory (Bem): perceive yourself the same way you perceive
other people. Come to same conclusion as cognitive dissonance theory majority
of time. If you see someone eat a grasshopper, you assume they like
grasshoppers. If you eat a grasshopper, you assume you like grasshoppers. Never
have dissonant feeling
Key mechanism is initial compliance
oDoor-in-the-face: ask for huge request that people don’t agree to, then back down to
little thing that people will agree to
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
French and raven: categorized means of compliance: compliance through direct behavior. Force: if you want someone to do something, you can force them to do so. Ex: use a gun, push someone out of an airplane if you want them to jump out. Ex: if you are ordered to do something by a police officer and you say no, can result in using force. Rewards: do things with incentives: compliance through attitudes. Information: providing information to justify behavior, you can get people to do things. Ex: if you"re in a plane, tell someone to jump out, justifying it through information of plane failing. Expertise: telling someone to do something because you"re an expert on the subject. Ex: if you"re in a plane, tell someone to jump out because you"re an expert on the situation. If they don"t believe you, you can back yourself up using information. If someone with a suit on jaywalks, you are more likely to follow.
