Social psychology

OBJECTIVES

• Discover why we conform.

• Factors affecting Conformity

• Asch’s Experiment

Conformity

• Know the Weapons of Influence

• Know the Persuasive Psychological Manipulation Techniques

Compliance• Factors that cause

Destructive Obedience• How to resist D.O.• Stanley Milgram’s

Experiment

Obedience

SOCIAL INFLUENCE

— Efforts by one or more individuals to change attitudes, beliefs, perceptions, or behaviors of one or more others.

• To conform is to adjust your actions to a norm.

CONFORMITY

• To comply is to come to an agreement about a course of action.

COMPLIANCE

• To obey is to do as an authority figure commands regardless of personal preference.

OBEDIENCE

When have you gone along with something that others have said, just because you didn’t

want to stand out?

CONFORMITY• Changed induced by general rules

concerning what behavior is appropriate or required in a given situation.

• Pressure to behave in ways that are viewed as acceptable or appropriate by a group or society generally.

SOCIAL NORMS

— Rules indicating how individuals are expected to behave in specific situations.

AUTOKINETIC PHENOMENON (MUZAFER SHERIF)

o The apparent movement of a single stationary source of light in a dark room.

o Often used to study the emergence of norms and social influence.

“When placed in a dark tunnel, tendency is to move towards the light, same goes for norm because people don’t know what to do without rules so they follow if there is one.”

FACTORS AFFECTING CONFORMITY

Cohesiveness Group Size

Social NormSituational

Norm


Cohesiveness— The extent to which we are attracted to a social group and want to belong to it.


Group Size— The larger the group (8 or more), the greater the number of people who behave in some specific way, the greater our tendency to conform.


Social NormsoDescriptive Norms

— What most people do in a given situation.

o Injunctive Norms

— What is ought to be done, what is approved or disapproved behavior in given situation.


Situational Norms— Norms that guide behavior in a certain situation or environment.

SOCIAL ROOTS OF CONFORMITYWhy do people choose to go along? It is because of two factors:

Normative Social Influence

• The desire to be liked.

Informational Social Influence

• The desire to be right.

FACTORS WHY

WE CHOOSE

NOT TO

CONFORM

First

The need to maintain Individuality.

Second

The desire for personal control.

Third

Norms that encourage individualism.

FACTORS IN WHICH

THE MINORITY CAN

SOMETIMES

INFLUENCE THE

MAJORITY

First

Must be consistent in their opposition.

Second

Must avoid appearing rigid or dogmatic

Third

Argue for a position that is consistent with current social trends. (e.g. Nature advocates)

• Solomon Asch (1955) studied conformity to see if people would conform to an obviously wrong opinion.

• 1/3 of participants went along with the obviously incorrect consensus.

CONFORMITY

CONFORMITY

• Participants on Asch’s experiment conformed because of the normative social influence.

• They did not want to stand out from the group and face possible ridicule; they wanted to be part of the in-group.




Conformity





Experiment

Obedience

COMPLIANCE

• Change in behavior, generally produced by a request.

• Direct efforts to get others to change their behavior in specific ways.

Weapons of Influence

Reciprocation

Commitment

Social Proof

Liking

Authority

Scarcity

“The Old Give and Take… and Take.”

“Hobgoblins of the Mind.”

“Truths are Us.”

“The Friendly Thief.”

“Directed Deference.”

“The Rule of the Few.”

PERSUASIVE PSYCHOLOGICAL

MANIPULATION TECHNIQUES

• Techniques used by compliance professionals (e.g. salespeople, recruiters, marketers, media, etc.).

• Can be used for manipulative purposes.

FOOT-IN-THE-DOOR

— Consists in getting a “YES” to a low cost action, difficult to be refused, in order to get a “YES” to a much more costly one.

LOWBALL TECHNIQUE

— Gaining compliance in which, when the target person agrees, the requester would change the deal to a more disadvantageous place for the target person.

DOOR-IN-THE-FACE

— Consists in getting a “NO” to a costly request, impossible to be accepted or even unrealistic, in order to get a “YES” to a much more reasonable one.

THAT’S-NOT-ALL TECHNIQUE

— Gaining compliance in which the requester offers additional benefits to target people before they have decided whether to comply or reject specific requests.

FOOT-IN-THE-MOUTH

—Consists in preceding the request by a form of address. Asking how are they. It catches the person on a personal level.

EXAMPLE:

Person 1: You look blooming today.

Person 2: Why, thank you. (flattered)

Person 1: How are you? You seem happy!

Person 2: Oh yes I am!

Person 1: That’s good to know! You go have a good day.

Person 2: Thank you.

Person 1: Oh, by the way, could you lend me 150 pesos, because […]

See how the “BECAUSE” technique is also utilized.

“BECAUSE” TECHNIQUE

—People are more compliant when you give people a reason for why you want them to do something.

PLAYING-HARD-TO-GET

— Increasing compliance by suggesting that a person or object is scarce or hard to obtain.

DEADLINE TECHNIQUE

— Increasing compliance by suggesting that they only have limited time to take advantage of some offer or to obtain some item.

FEAR-THEN-RELIEF

— Consists of creating stress before providing a relief as a preparatory step for a later request.

“BUT YOU ARE FREE OF” TECHNIQUE

— Consists in clarifying after a request that the targeted person should feel free not to comply to the said request.

EXAMPLE:

“Could you please throw the garbage? I mean, you’re free to refuse, if anyone forces you.”

—The evocation of freedom provoked the compliance.

“A LITTLE IS BETTER

THAN NOTHING” TECHNIQUE

— Consists in helping the target to understand that even a tiny contribution or participation is better than nothing.

EXAMPLE:

Hello sir! I forgot my wallet and I really need money to buy a bus ticket. Could you please help me? Even 10 pesos could help me.

ATTRIBUTION TECHNIQUE

— Consists in giving a persona good image of his/herself, just by a simple sentence, which will lead this person to accept your request more easily.

TOUCH TECHNIQUE

— Touching the person for a few second will submit to your request.

PERSUASIVE PSYCHOLOGICAL MANIPULATION

TECHNIQUES

1. FOOT-IN-THE-DOOR

2. LOWBALL

3. DOOR-IN-THE-FACE

4. FOOT-IN-THE-MOUTH

5. THAT’S-NOT-ALL

6. “BECAUSE”

7. HARD-TO-GET

8. DEADLINE

9. FEAR-THEN-RELIEF

10. BUT-YOU-ARE-FREE-OF

11. A LITTLE IS BETTER THAN NOTHING

12. ATTRIBUTION TECHNIQUE

13. TOUCH TECHNIQUE

SYMBOLIC SOCIAL INFLUENCE

— Psychological presence of others in ours mental representation of them influence our behavior and thought.

How?

Because of GOALS.

First, the extent people are present in our thoughts, this may trigger relational schemas. When relational schemas are triggered, goals relevant to them may be activated.

Presence of a person in

our thoughts

Triggers relational schemas

Goals relevant to them may

be activated

• For instance, if the goal of helping others is triggered, then we may become more helpful.

• Our goals may affect our behavior.

SECOND,

Psychological presence of others may trigger goals

which that person is associated.

Goals they want us to achieve.

PERCEPTUAL CONTRAST

• A principle in human perception; it affects the way we see the difference between two things that are presented one after another.

• Simply put, if the second item is fairly different from the first, we will tend to see it more different than it actually is.

STORY

Dear Mother and Dad.docx

Sharon may be failing Chemistry, but she gets an “A” in Psychology.




Conformity





Experiment

Obedience

OBEDIENCE

— Social Influence in which one person simply orders one or more others to do what they want.

Not much is to be said regarding obedience, only that it is unparalleled in controlling people because it is exhibited by people in power especially authorities in position. Stanley Milgram’s famous experiment, “Destructive Obedience,” is to be remembered.

• The Milgram experiment on obedience to authority figures was a series of notable social psychology experiments conducted by Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram

• Which measured the willingness of study participants to obey an authority figure who instructed them to perform acts that conflicted with their personal conscience.

MILGRAM EXPERIMENT

“Ordinary people, simply doing their jobs, and without any particular hostility on their part, can become agents in a terrible destructive process. Moreover, even when the destructive effects of their work become patently clear, and they are asked to carry out actions incompatible with fundamental standards of morality, relatively few people have the resources needed to resist authority.”

FACTORS THAT CAUSE DESTRUCTIVE OBEDIENCE

Persons in authority assume responsibility

Persons in authority often have visible signs of their status and

power

Commands are gradual in nature, and do not start out

with orders to perform extreme actions

Events move at fast pace, giving the persons involved

little chance to consider their options

Strong tendency to obey

Individuals must remind themselves that they, not the

authorities, are responsible for any hard produced

Individuals must have a clear indication that total submission

to destructive commands is inappropriate

Individuals may find it easier to resist influence from authority if they question the expertise and

motives of these figures

Simply knowing about the power of authority figures to

command blind obedience may be helpful in itself

How to resist D.O.




Conformity





Experiment

Obedience

“It takes tremendous discipline to control the influence, the power you have over other people's lives.”

—Clint Eastwood

Documents

Social psychology