Chapter 8:
Social influence changing others behaviour
Social influence – 1 or more person’s efforts to change others behaviour and attitudes
Reactions to social influence – conformity, compliance and obedience
Conformity: group influence in action
People behave differently in different situations, but reactions are often predictable due to
conformity
Conformity = general rules governing behaviour that is appropriate according to existing social
norms – how we should or ought to behave
Social norms = rules indicating how individuals are expected to behave in specific situations – can
be implicit or unspoken; formal or informal
Without conformity there would be social chaos, thus conformity serves a useful function
Compliance = change in overt behaviour produced by a specific request
Obedience = a form of social influence in which a person orders another to perform some actions
Solomon asch’s research on conformity: social pressure – the irresistible force
We often discover that our own judgements, actions or conclusions are different to others – what
do we do in this situation?
Asch created a social dilemma for participants whose task was to respond to a series of perceptual
problems
Their task was to indicate which of the comparison of lines 1,2,3 matched a the length of a single
line
To study conformity he asked the participants to state aloud their judgements, but only after
hearing the answers of several other people (whom they did not know were asch’s assistants)
On critical trials all gave the wrong answer – exposing participants to strong pressures towards
conformity
When questioned by asch – some responded “i am wrong, they are right” showing little confidence
in own judgements; others felt that people were suffering from an optical illusion or they were a
bunch of sheep, yet they still went along
In further studies:
o He tested the effects of breaking up unanimity by having an assistant disagree with the
other assistants and becoming an ‘ally’ of the real participant;
o He chose an answer in between the one given by the group and the correct 1
o And in a 3rd test he chose an answer that was more incorrect than the false group, though
not correct
Conformity was reduced in all 3 conditions, but the greatest reduction was when the answer was
more extreme and wrong than the majority
These findings suggest that unanimity of the group is crucial – once broken resisting group
pressure becomes easier
In a later study asch made participants write down the answer instead of saying it aloud –
conformity dropped sharply as participants did not have to display them to others – this finding
makes an important point distinguishing between:
o Public conformity – doing and saying what others say and do
o Private acceptance – coming to feel and think as others do
Often people seem to follow social norms overtly, but don’t change private views.
Sherif’s research on the autokinetic phenomenon: how norms emerge
Muzafer sherif gives a clear illustration of private acceptance of social influence
He was interested in several questions, 2 of which were the most important:
1. How do norms develop in social groups?
2. How strong is there influence on behaviour once they (the norms) emerge?
He used autokinetic phenomenon to examine these issues
Autokinetic phenomenon – when placed in a completely dark room, exposed to a single,
stationary point of light, most people perceive the light as moving - this is because there are no
clear cues about distance and location
, When placed in this setting with several others people; they influenced one another and converged
on a particular amount of movement – the agreement, in a sense, constitutes a group norm - when
placed alone, they continued to estimate the light’s movement consistent with the group norm –
clearly indicating the effects of group norms persist
This reflects changes in what participants in these studies actually believe – private acceptance or
commitment – they continue to obey group norms even if no longer in the group
These findings help explain why social norms develop in many situations, especially ambiguous 1’s
We have a strong desire to be right and to behave appropriately – social norms make these
attainable
This is one key foundation of social influence, another is: we desire to be accepted and liked by
others
These 2 factors assure that social influence is a powerful force that can affect behaviour
Fators affecting conformity: variables that determine the extent to which we “go along”
Conformity does not occur in the same degree in all settings
Cohesiveness and conformity: being influenced by those we like
To go along with the norms of a given situation - is cohesiveness – the extent to which we are
attracted to a particular social group and want to belong to it
Cohesiveness and the desire to be accepted intensifies the tendency to conform
Conformity and group size: why more is better with respect to social pressure
The larger the group – the more people behave similarly – the greater our tendency to conform “do
as they do”
Descriptive and injunctive social norms: how norms affect behaviour
Distinction can be made between descriptive and injunctive norms
Descriptive norms: describe what most people do in a given situation
Injunctive norms: specify what ought to be done – what is approved or disapproved behaviour in
a given situation )like cheating on an exam)
Why do people disobey injunctive norms? Normative focus theory – norms will influence behaviour
only to an extent that they are important to people involved at the time the behaviour occurs –
norms are only obeyed when they are thought about and seen as relevant to ones actions
In contrast – when we don’t think of norms as relevant their effects are weak or nonexistent – that’s
why some people disobey strong injunctive norms because they don’t think that they apply to them.
Situational norms: automaticity in normative behaviour
Recent findings indicate that indicate that we do not have to be aware of norms for them to
influence our behaviour.
Norms can be activated unconsciously – and can affect our overt behaviour
Aarts & dijksterhuis: participants who saw a photo of a library and expected to visit it lowered their
voices relative to people who saw a photo of a library but didn’t expect to visit it or those who saw a
photo of a railway station
Two facts seem clear 1) situational norms that tell us how to behave in a given environment or
location, often strongly affect our overt behaviour. 2) such norms can exert effects automatically
even if we do not consciously recognise their impact.
The social roots of conformity: why we often choose to go along
Normative social influence: the desire to be liked
Q) how can we get others to like us? A) be as similar to others as possible
We learn that by conforming we win approval and acceptance – known as normative social
influence because it involves alerting our behaviour to meet others’ expectations
The desire to be right: informational social influence
Social influence based on the desire to be correct (i.e. To possess accurate perceptions of the
social world)
We use others’ opinions as guides for our own – depend on others as a source of information
The downside of conformity: when pressures to ‘go along’ produce harmful effects
Research findings indicate that when individuals are committed to complying with gender norms,
they base their self-esteem on winning others’ approval
Social influence changing others behaviour
Social influence – 1 or more person’s efforts to change others behaviour and attitudes
Reactions to social influence – conformity, compliance and obedience
Conformity: group influence in action
People behave differently in different situations, but reactions are often predictable due to
conformity
Conformity = general rules governing behaviour that is appropriate according to existing social
norms – how we should or ought to behave
Social norms = rules indicating how individuals are expected to behave in specific situations – can
be implicit or unspoken; formal or informal
Without conformity there would be social chaos, thus conformity serves a useful function
Compliance = change in overt behaviour produced by a specific request
Obedience = a form of social influence in which a person orders another to perform some actions
Solomon asch’s research on conformity: social pressure – the irresistible force
We often discover that our own judgements, actions or conclusions are different to others – what
do we do in this situation?
Asch created a social dilemma for participants whose task was to respond to a series of perceptual
problems
Their task was to indicate which of the comparison of lines 1,2,3 matched a the length of a single
line
To study conformity he asked the participants to state aloud their judgements, but only after
hearing the answers of several other people (whom they did not know were asch’s assistants)
On critical trials all gave the wrong answer – exposing participants to strong pressures towards
conformity
When questioned by asch – some responded “i am wrong, they are right” showing little confidence
in own judgements; others felt that people were suffering from an optical illusion or they were a
bunch of sheep, yet they still went along
In further studies:
o He tested the effects of breaking up unanimity by having an assistant disagree with the
other assistants and becoming an ‘ally’ of the real participant;
o He chose an answer in between the one given by the group and the correct 1
o And in a 3rd test he chose an answer that was more incorrect than the false group, though
not correct
Conformity was reduced in all 3 conditions, but the greatest reduction was when the answer was
more extreme and wrong than the majority
These findings suggest that unanimity of the group is crucial – once broken resisting group
pressure becomes easier
In a later study asch made participants write down the answer instead of saying it aloud –
conformity dropped sharply as participants did not have to display them to others – this finding
makes an important point distinguishing between:
o Public conformity – doing and saying what others say and do
o Private acceptance – coming to feel and think as others do
Often people seem to follow social norms overtly, but don’t change private views.
Sherif’s research on the autokinetic phenomenon: how norms emerge
Muzafer sherif gives a clear illustration of private acceptance of social influence
He was interested in several questions, 2 of which were the most important:
1. How do norms develop in social groups?
2. How strong is there influence on behaviour once they (the norms) emerge?
He used autokinetic phenomenon to examine these issues
Autokinetic phenomenon – when placed in a completely dark room, exposed to a single,
stationary point of light, most people perceive the light as moving - this is because there are no
clear cues about distance and location
, When placed in this setting with several others people; they influenced one another and converged
on a particular amount of movement – the agreement, in a sense, constitutes a group norm - when
placed alone, they continued to estimate the light’s movement consistent with the group norm –
clearly indicating the effects of group norms persist
This reflects changes in what participants in these studies actually believe – private acceptance or
commitment – they continue to obey group norms even if no longer in the group
These findings help explain why social norms develop in many situations, especially ambiguous 1’s
We have a strong desire to be right and to behave appropriately – social norms make these
attainable
This is one key foundation of social influence, another is: we desire to be accepted and liked by
others
These 2 factors assure that social influence is a powerful force that can affect behaviour
Fators affecting conformity: variables that determine the extent to which we “go along”
Conformity does not occur in the same degree in all settings
Cohesiveness and conformity: being influenced by those we like
To go along with the norms of a given situation - is cohesiveness – the extent to which we are
attracted to a particular social group and want to belong to it
Cohesiveness and the desire to be accepted intensifies the tendency to conform
Conformity and group size: why more is better with respect to social pressure
The larger the group – the more people behave similarly – the greater our tendency to conform “do
as they do”
Descriptive and injunctive social norms: how norms affect behaviour
Distinction can be made between descriptive and injunctive norms
Descriptive norms: describe what most people do in a given situation
Injunctive norms: specify what ought to be done – what is approved or disapproved behaviour in
a given situation )like cheating on an exam)
Why do people disobey injunctive norms? Normative focus theory – norms will influence behaviour
only to an extent that they are important to people involved at the time the behaviour occurs –
norms are only obeyed when they are thought about and seen as relevant to ones actions
In contrast – when we don’t think of norms as relevant their effects are weak or nonexistent – that’s
why some people disobey strong injunctive norms because they don’t think that they apply to them.
Situational norms: automaticity in normative behaviour
Recent findings indicate that indicate that we do not have to be aware of norms for them to
influence our behaviour.
Norms can be activated unconsciously – and can affect our overt behaviour
Aarts & dijksterhuis: participants who saw a photo of a library and expected to visit it lowered their
voices relative to people who saw a photo of a library but didn’t expect to visit it or those who saw a
photo of a railway station
Two facts seem clear 1) situational norms that tell us how to behave in a given environment or
location, often strongly affect our overt behaviour. 2) such norms can exert effects automatically
even if we do not consciously recognise their impact.
The social roots of conformity: why we often choose to go along
Normative social influence: the desire to be liked
Q) how can we get others to like us? A) be as similar to others as possible
We learn that by conforming we win approval and acceptance – known as normative social
influence because it involves alerting our behaviour to meet others’ expectations
The desire to be right: informational social influence
Social influence based on the desire to be correct (i.e. To possess accurate perceptions of the
social world)
We use others’ opinions as guides for our own – depend on others as a source of information
The downside of conformity: when pressures to ‘go along’ produce harmful effects
Research findings indicate that when individuals are committed to complying with gender norms,
they base their self-esteem on winning others’ approval
