Transcript Social Psychology

Introductory Psychology Concepts
Social Influence
Instructor name
Class Title, Term/Semester, Year
Institution
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Introductory Psychology Concepts: Social Influence
Social Influence
Compliance
The adjustment of individual behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs to a group
standard.
Foot-in-the-door
People use a small request in hopes that you will later comply with a
large request.
Door-in-the-face
Making a large request that is expected to be rejected, and then
presenting a smaller, more approachable request.
Low-balling
Getting you to conform to an action, then increasing the cost of said
action.
That’s-not-all
Presenting a request, with following incentives that “sweeten the pot”.
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Introductory Psychology Concepts: Social Influence
Social Influence
Groupthink: Tendency for group members to suspend critical
thinking because they are striving to seek agreement.
Antecedent conditions
1. High stress to reach
a decision
2. Insulation of the group
3. Directive leadership
4. High cohesiveness
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Some symptoms of
groupthink
1. Illusion of invulnerability
(group overestimates itself)
2. Direct pressure on
dissenters
3. Self-censorship
4. Illusion of unanimity
5. Self-appointed mind
guards
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Groupthink increases risk
of defective decision making
1. Incomplete survey of
alternatives
2. Incomplete survey of
objectives
3. Failure to examine risks
of preferred choice
4. Poor information search
5. Failure to reappraise
alternatives
Introductory Psychology Concepts: Social Influence
Social Influence: Solomon Asch Conformity Studies
Compliance, or conformity—the adjustment of individual
behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs to a group standard.
In Asch’s classic (1956)
conformity experiments,
students were asked to
judge which of three
comparison lines was the
same length as the
standard line.
Upon hearing other group
members say that line 1
was the correct match,
participants wondered
whether their own
judgments were correct.
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A
Standard line
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2
3
Comparison lines
Introductory Psychology Concepts: Social Influence
Social Influence: Stanley Milgram Obedience Studies
The Dilemma of Obedience: When Conscience Confronts
Malevolent Authority
• Stanley Milgram (1974) asked a disturbing question: Would
ordinary citizens obey the orders of an authority figure if those
orders meant physically harming an innocent person?
• He conducted 18 studies between 1960 and 1963 to answer
this question and to identify factors that increased or
decreased obedience to authority.
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© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Introductory Psychology Concepts: Social Influence
Social Influence: Stanley Milgram Obedience Studies
The Dilemma of Obedience: When Conscience Confronts
Malevolent Authority
Milgram’s Method:
• Participants: 40 men, 20-50 years old, “teachers”.
• Each participant was introduced to a “learner” (confederate).
• Participants were told that the experiment studied the effects of
punishment on memory.
• Each time the learner made an error, the teacher was
instructed to administer an electric shock, beginning with 15
volts and increasing to 450 volts.
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Introductory Psychology Concepts: Social Influence
Social Influence: Stanley Milgram’s Obedience Studies
Milgram’s Results:
This graph shows the
percentage of male
participants who
continued to shock the
learner through various
voltage levels.
Percentage of people obeying
command at each shock level
100
80
60
40
SOURCE: Based on Milgram,
1974.
20
0
Slight
15 volts
Strong
135 volts
Moderate
75 volts
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Intense
255 volts
Ver strong
195 volts
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Danger:
Severe
Shock
375 volts
Extreme
XXX
intensity
435-450
315 volts
volts
Introductory Psychology Concepts: Social Influence
Social Influence: Due to The Presence of Others
Social Facilitation
A person performs a task individually (in front of an audience or
with a co-actor) and does not pool his/her effort with anyone.
Social Loafing
The tendency for people to expend less individual effort when
working in a group than when working alone.
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