Social Influence glossary
Agent state – individual carries out the orders of another person, acting as their
agent with little personal responsibility
Authoritarian personality – a person who has extreme respect for authority and
is obedient to those who have power over them
Autonomous state – where individuals are seen as personally responsible for
their actions
Cognitive dissonance – unpleasant feelings of anxiety created when
simultaneously holding two contradictory ideas
Compliance – superficial type of conformity where people conform publicly by
privately disagree
Confederates – alternative term for stooges or pseudo-participants
Conformity – charging what we do think or say in response to others
Dehumanisation – degrading people by lessening their human qualities
Deindividuation – when a person moves into a group and as a result loses some
individual identity
Dispositional attribution – explanation of individual behaviour as a result
caused by internal characteristics that reside within the individual
Identification – where people change their beliefs (sometimes temporarily) to fit
in with a group
Individual variables – personal characteristics that affect the degree to which
individuals yield to group pressures
Internalisation – where people change their beliefs permanently
Ironic deviance – takes place when we believe that the behaviour of the
majority is the result of unreasonable pressure from authority
Locus of control – extent to which individuals believe they can control events in
their lives
Majority influence – alternative term for conformity
Milgram paradigm – experimental procedure for measuring obedience rates
Minority influence – where an individual or small group influence attitudes and
behaviour of a larger group
Morality – decisions and behaviour based upon the perception for proper
conduct
Obedience – complying with the demands of an authority figure
Agent state – individual carries out the orders of another person, acting as their
agent with little personal responsibility
Authoritarian personality – a person who has extreme respect for authority and
is obedient to those who have power over them
Autonomous state – where individuals are seen as personally responsible for
their actions
Cognitive dissonance – unpleasant feelings of anxiety created when
simultaneously holding two contradictory ideas
Compliance – superficial type of conformity where people conform publicly by
privately disagree
Confederates – alternative term for stooges or pseudo-participants
Conformity – charging what we do think or say in response to others
Dehumanisation – degrading people by lessening their human qualities
Deindividuation – when a person moves into a group and as a result loses some
individual identity
Dispositional attribution – explanation of individual behaviour as a result
caused by internal characteristics that reside within the individual
Identification – where people change their beliefs (sometimes temporarily) to fit
in with a group
Individual variables – personal characteristics that affect the degree to which
individuals yield to group pressures
Internalisation – where people change their beliefs permanently
Ironic deviance – takes place when we believe that the behaviour of the
majority is the result of unreasonable pressure from authority
Locus of control – extent to which individuals believe they can control events in
their lives
Majority influence – alternative term for conformity
Milgram paradigm – experimental procedure for measuring obedience rates
Minority influence – where an individual or small group influence attitudes and
behaviour of a larger group
Morality – decisions and behaviour based upon the perception for proper
conduct
Obedience – complying with the demands of an authority figure
