Social Influence Conformity Obedience Group Influence Persuasion Conformity Adjusting one s behavior to coincide with a group standard Asch s line experiments o Almost all correct when alone 95 o 75 of P s went against their own eyes at least once if their group gave the wrong answer almost all incorrect in order to conform Reasons to Conform Normative influence Informational Influence Normative Influence being liked Public conformity not private acceptance people fear social rejection A strong group consensus leads people to do things they wouldn t normally do Informational influence crowd knows best Public conformity private acceptance People assume majority is correct we use the group as a source of information Obedience Following orders from an authority figure o Usually good for the group Milgrams shock experiment o People followed orders by someone who looked legit Milgram and obedience Ethical considerations Susceptibility Social Facilitation The tendency to perform well when others are present o Children wind string faster when working around others than alone Sometimes the presence of others makes performance worse social inhibition o Arousal enhances a person s dominant response o If you are good at it a crowd makes you even better if you aren t good at it a crowd makes you worse People often reduce effort when working in a group Social loafing 3 19 13 Deindividuation People in groups feel anonymous Deindividuation apprehension loss of self awareness responsibility and evaluation Diener s trick or treat study Some kids were alone some were in groups and then the groups were either anonymous or noticed name dob etc Then kids were told to take one piece of candy without experimenter in the room o Kids who were anonymous and in a group were the most likely situation to take more than one piece Kids who were not in a groups still were more likely to take candy if anonymous but not that high because they were the only one in the room Zimbardo test Dressed women in white coats and hoods anonymous or without uniform and with name tag identifiable Women pressed a button to shock a person actually a confederate Anonymous women pressed shock button twice as long as identifiable women Deindividuation Can lead to increased anti social behavior o Physical harm o Stealing Power Social Power the capacity to influence others outcomes behaviors etc Most groups are hierarchical o What are the effects of having power Participants asked to think about a time they had power high power or think about a time someone else had power over them low power Then asked to write an E on their forehead o If you are thinking for other people then it would be drawn so others could read it Whereas if you are thinking about yourself it ll be drawn so you can read it mirror Those who thought they had high power were more likely to be self oriented or write the E so only they can read it Power decreases empathy Participants are put into high power or low power situations Taken to another room to complete paper and pencil task there is a fan blowing where they are trying to write Trying to see what people are more likely to getup and turn off the fan High power condition was much more likely to turn off the fan Power motivates action Example Example Example What do we do to keep our power People were assigned to have power over others in charge of determining how to work on project You have to unscramble a bunch of anagrams for money You have to be quicker than the other team Told everyone that they were the only one who had power over the rest of the team to eliminate one person from the team because too many people showed up after completing a preliminary anagram project How likely are they to exclude the really skilled person Varied stability of power o Stable power you are in power throughout the experiement o Unstable power depending on how your group members do on this task you might lose power within the group Measured Power Motivation Unstable power and the person likes being in power then they are very likely to want to get rid of the very skilled person because they could lose their power to him her In unstable power positions for power driven people Power motivates behavior to protect power Power Decreases empathy Motivates action Motivates behavior to protect power o In unstable power positions for power driven people Overall conformity and obedience are pro social behaviors that allow groups to function Social Influence Powerful Important Helpful Business Military Science and medicine Social Influence and Persuasion Elaboration Likelihood Model o Central Route to persuasion when interested people focus on the arguments and respond with favorable thoughts Buy the sandwich its healthy high quality and cheap o Peripheral Route to Persuasion when people are influenced by incidental cues such as speaker s attractiveness He spits on you when he talks hes greasy looking the sandwich truck is rusty and covered in bugs Central Route Audience is analytical and motivated Processing is high elaborate and includes agreement or counter arguing Cogent arguments evoke enduring agreement Scientific studies lots of facts written down published information o Then people will either agree or disagree with the facts but this takes A LOT of energy to read understand and then argue But people have very strong and hard to change opinions from this route Peripheral Route Audience is not analytical or as involved Processing with low effort using peripheral cues and heuristics Cues trigger liking and acceptance but often only temporary Cute pictures sad music attractive speaker Not as resilient of opinions made Example Participants listened to argument for policy change Manipulated o Personal Involvement Next year high involvement vs 10 years later low involvement Either hard the argument by a high school class non expert or o Source expertise Princeton Professor expert o Argument Quality Strong backed by data vs Weak personal opinion Highly involved people opinion isn t shaped by expert vs non expert central route but is shaped if it is a strong argument policy is more desirable Low involved people opinion is changed if an expert says it peripheral route expert but not changed based on how good the argument is Persuasion Example Low involvement group pays attention to peripheral cues o Junk mail spam commercials not about delivering the argument its about bombarding you with peripheral cues High involvement group uses
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