PS51005B: Psychology of the Person – Week 20 Lecture Notes: Social Influence III – Compliance & Obedience (Goldsmiths BSc Psychology)

These notes summarise Week 20 of PS51005B: Psychology of the Person, covering the psychology of compliance and obedience. The lecture explores Cialdini’s six principles of compliance and Milgram’s obedience experiments, along with situational and dispositional factors influencing behaviour. Topics covered: • Cialdini’s six principles of compliance: reciprocity, authority, scarcity, social validation, commitment, liking • Milgram’s obedience study: procedure, results, predictions, and replications • Influencing factors: immediacy, group pressure, legitimacy, agency theory • Situational vs dispositional explanations for obedience • Ethical concerns in obedience research (e.g., deception, distress, consent) • Multiple choice revision questions included Ideal for: • Students preparing for exams on social influence and ethics • Coursework involving compliance, obedience, and power dynamics • Critical discussions of classic psychology experiments