What is social influence?

•     Two types

–   Informational social influence

–   Normative social influence

•     Three forms

–   Conformity

–   Compliance

–   Obedience

 

Early studies in conformity

•     Sherif, 1935

•     Asch, 1951, 1956

•     Public compliance vs. private acceptance

–   Commitment to response and conformity

 

Social impact theory (Latanι, 1980)

•     Strength

•     Immediacy

•     Number

 

Factors emphasized by SIT

•     Strength:

–   Group importance

–   Personality

–   Our status in group

•     Immediacy:

–   Memorable interactions

•     Number:

–   Group size

–   Unanimity of group

Evidence for SIT

•     Conformity

•     Stage fright

•     News events

•     Helping

 

Dynamic social impact theory

•     Consolidation

•     Clustering

•     Correlation

•     Continuing diversity

Influence techniques

•     Reciprocity

•     Consistency

•     Social proof

•     Liking

•     Authority

•     Scarcity

Why do people conform?

•     Communicate, then reject

•     Idiosyncrasy credits

Obedience

•     Milgram’s paradigm (1973)

•     Factors affecting obedience

–   Proximity of the victim

•   Empathetic cures

•   Cognitive narrowing

–   Power of the institution

–   Presence and legitimacy of the authority figure

–   Conflicting messages

–   Group effects

 

Why do people obey?

•     Agentic state

•     Binding factors

•     Antecedent conditions

•     Consequences