1. Social Psychology 2 Josée L. Jarry, Ph.D., C.Psych.
Introduction to Psychology
Department of Psychology
University of Toronto
July 2, 2003

2. Social Influence on Behaviour
Social Pressure
Social Impact Theory
Self-monitoring Theory
Social facilitation and Interference
Conformity
Obedience
Cooperation

3. Social Pressure Concerns for other’s judgement
The entire set of psychological forces that are exerted on an individual by other people or by the individual’s beliefs about other people
People care about what others think of them
It is a powerful source of pressure to do what we believe others want us to do

4. The Field Theory Kurt Lewin (1951) Forces from within
developed a theory that compares social pressure with physical forces
people exist in a field of forces that push or pull them in various directions
Forces from within
the person's own self perceived desires, goals, and abilities
Forces of social pressure
the person's perception of other people's expectations or desires

6. Social Impact Theory Bibb Latané (1981)
the theory identifies factors that increase or decrease social pressure
predicts the impact of social pressure on the person at any given time
factors are understood in terms of sources of social pressure

7. Social Pressure & Sources
Number of sources
number of people perceived by the target person as exerting pressure
Strength of a source
the degree to which that person's opinions are valued by the target person
Immediacy of a source
the physical or psychological proximity of that person to the target person, either in physical distance or as prominence in memory

9. Impression Management
The entire set of ways by which people consciously and unconsciously modify their behaviour to influence others’ impressions of them
Because we care what others think of us, we strive to influence of their thoughts

10. Self-Monitoring Mark Snyder (1974) High self-monitors
The degree to which people project a varied impression of themselves as they go from audience to audience
High self-monitors
watch themselves vigilantly to assess how they must look to others
adjust their behaviour accordingly
Low self-monitors
are less vigilant in self-scrutiny
greater consistency in behaviour

11. Items from the Self-monitoring Scale

12. Social Facilitation & Interference
Early experiments in social psychology showed that people performed tasks better when one or more observers were present than they did when alone
Other experiments, however, demonstrated an opposite effect: social interference

13. Social Facilitation & Interference
Robert Zajonc (1965)
the presence of others facilitates performance of dominant (habitual, simple, or instinctive) actions and interferes with performance of non-dominant (non habitual, complex, or unnatural) actions
Arousal
facilitates performance of dominant or simple, well learned tasks
worsens the performance of non-dominant or complex, poorly learned tasks

14. Conformity (1) Informational influence Normative influence
other people's behaviour provides information about the nature of a situation or an event
Normative influence
stems from the person's desire to be part of the group and to have other people's approval
conforming promotes group cohesion and acceptance by the group
Conformity is essential to group cohesion

15. Conformity (2) Solomon Asch (1956)
Asch's original purpose was to demonstrate the limits of conformity
He did his work in the early 1950s when conformity was very strong
Asch expected to demonstrate that people will not conform when evidence is very clear

16. Conformity Explained Informational influence Normative influence
subjects claimed that they doubted their own perceptual ability
Normative influence
when confederates responded out loud as before, but the subjects responded privately in writing, the amount of conformity dropped to about one-third of that in the earlier experiments

17. Conformity and Helping (1)
Latané & Rodin (1969)
70 % of those who witness an accident alone provide help
only 20 % of those who witness an accident in pairs provide help
Apparently an accident victim is better off with just one potential helper present than with two

18. Conformity and Helping (2)
Diffusion of responsibility
the more people present, the less any one person feels it is their responsibility to help
Informational influence
other’s action or inaction is a source of information
Normative influence
other’s inaction establishes an implicit social norm
fear of evaluation

19. Influence of others’ requests: Obedience
Obedience refers to those cases of compliance in which the person making the request is perceived as an authority figure or a leader
The request is perceived as an order or a command
Obedience has evolutionary value

20. Obedience Stanley Milgram (1960s)
conducted a series of experiments at Yale University.
was impressed by events like the Holocaust of World War II
the Nazis claimed that they were simply obeying orders
Milgram wanted to test that claim

21. Obedience Explained Pre-existing beliefs Diffusion of responsibility
volunteers’ faith in the value of science
Diffusion of responsibility
the experimenter took responsibility
The immediacy of the experimenter
obedience declined when the experimenter was not in the room
Conformity
a non-conforming confederate caused a decline in obedience