1. Conformity, Compliance, and Obedience
Chapter Eight
Conformity, Compliance, and Obedience

2. Conformity, Compliance, Obedience
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. Figure 8.1 Conditions in Sherif’s (1936) second study of social norms

8. 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

9. 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

10. Figure 8.4 Percentage of conforming trials as the size of the group increases

11. 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

12. 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

13. Compliance: 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

14. Compliance: 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

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

16. 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

17. 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

18. Concept Review

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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

23. Concept Review

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

25. Figure 8.7 A pictorial representation of social impact theory, showing the influence of strength, immediacy, and number of sources on a target