Social Influence

Social Influence The greatest contribution of social psychology is its study of attitudes, beliefs, decisions, and actions and the way they are molded by social influence. NON SEQUITER © 2000 Wiley. Dist. by Universal Press Syndicate Reprinted with Permission

Mimicry & Copycats Humans are natural mimics Yawns, laughs, look up….eventually others will follow (Chimps, too) Columbine High School Shootings, 1999 Every state, except Vermont, experienced copycat violence Cluster suicides

Conformity & Obedience Behavior is contagious, modeled by one followed by another. We follow behavior of others to conform. Other behaviors may be an expression of compliance (obedience) toward authority. Conformity Obedience

The Chameleon Effect Conformity: Adjusting one’s behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard

Conformity Are these people asserting individuality or identifying with others of the same microculture?

Conformity Adjusting one’s behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard. How did you feel the first time someone asked you to smoke? Drink?

Conditions that Strengthen Conformity One is made to feel incompetent The group is at least three people The group is unanimous One admires the group’s status One had made no prior commitment The person is observed

Group Pressure & Conformity Suggestibility is a subtle type of conformity, adjusting our behavior or thinking toward some group standard.

Group Pressure & Conformity An influence resulting from one’s willingness to accept others’ opinions about reality. Solomon Asch conducted experiments to see how this worked. William Vandivert/ Scientific American

Reasons for Conforming Normative Social Influence Influence resulting from a person’s desire to gain approval or avoid disappointment Informational Social Influence Influence resulting from one’s willingness to accept others’ opinions about reality

Informative Social Influence Baron and colleagues (1996) made students do an eyewitness identification task. If the task was easy (lineup exposure 5 sec.), conformity was low in comparison to a difficult (1/2 sec. exposure) task.

Informational Conformity Sample task: After seeing slides 1 & 2, participants judged which person in slide 2 was the same as the person in slide 1

Violating a Social Norm Select a behavior that is outside your comfort zone or outside the code of behavior “perform” this violation Take note of your own reaction leading up to and during the “performance”, as well as those of observers, and report back to class http://www.radford.edu/~jaspelme/social/examples_of_norm_violations.htm

Courtesy of CUNY Graduate School and University Center Obedience People comply to social pressures. How would they respond to outright command? Stanley Milgram designed a study that investigates the effects of authority on obedience. Courtesy of CUNY Graduate School and University Center Stanley Milgram (1933-1984)

Milgram’s Experiments Obedience Milgram’s Experiments

Milgram’s Obedience Study

Results of Milgram’s Experiment Men between 20-50 complied fully 63% of the time—right up to the last switch Later women were involved in the experiment…the results were similar to men Real world correlations Nazi Holocaust Exceptions  those that did not bow to authority Anne Frank protectors Danes rescuing their Jews by sending them to Sweden

Individual Resistance A third of the individuals in Milgram’s study resisted social coercion. AP/ Wide World Photos An unarmed individual single-handedly challenged a line of tanks at Tiananmen Square.

What did we learn from Asch & Milgram? Ordinary people can do shocking things.