PSYB10H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 9: Social Proof, Normative Social Influence, Social Influence
Chapter 9: Social Influence
What Is Social Influence?
• There are three types of social influence
o Defined as the many ways people affect one another, including changes in
attitudes, beliefs, feelings, and behaviour resulting from the comments, actions,
or even the mere presence of others
o Conformity ioles a hage i a perso’s attitudes or ehaior in response to
explicit or implicit pressure from others
o Compliance involves going along with explicit requests made by others
o Obedience is submitting to the demands of a person in authority
▪ Unequal power relationship
Conformity
• Mimicry is the conscious or oosious iitatio of soeoe else’s ehaior
o People sometimes conform because of informational social influence; they view
the actions of others as informative about proper behavior
▪ Defined as the influence of other people that results from taking their
comments or actions as a source of information about what is correct,
proper, or effective
o People also conform because of normative social influence, out of a concern for
the social consequences of their actions
▪ Defined as the influence of other people that comes from the desire to
avoid their disapproval and other social sanctions (ridicule, barbs,
ostracism)
• Ideomotor action is the phenomenon whereby merely thinking about a behaviour
makes performing it more likely
• Conformity pressure depends on group characteristics
o The larger the size, the greater the group’s ifluee, ut oly up to aout four
people
o Unanimous groups exert more pressure to conform than those with even a
single dissenter
o The greater the expertise and status of the group members, the greater their
influence
• People from interdependent cultures are more likely to conform than people from
independent cultures
o Women tend to conform more than men, and both women and men conform
more in domains in which they have less knowledge
• The direction of influence is not always from the major- ity to the minority
o Sometimes minority influence can be substantial, especially when the minority
expresses consistent views
Compliance
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
