Reviewer in SOCPSY

MODULE 4

CONFORMITY- A change in behavior or belief as the result of real or imagined group pressure.

● Overall term for acting differently due to the influence of others. It is not just acting as other
people act; it is also being affected by how they act. It is thinking or acting differently from the
way you would act and think if you were alone.

Acceptance- occurs when you genuinely believe in what the group has persuaded you to do---you
inwardly and sincerely believe that the group’s actions are right.

Example:

1. You might exercise, as millions do, because you accept that exercise is healthy.

Compliance- Conforming to an expectation or a request without really believing in what you are doing.

Examples:

1. You might have followed your high school’s dress code even though you thought it was dumb
because that was better than detention.

Obedience- or complying with direct command, is a variation on compliance.

Example:

1. If your mother tells you to clean up your room and you do, that’s obedience.

THE CHAMELEON EFFECT- our natural mimicry of others’ postures and language generally elicits
liking---except when echoing others’ negative expressions such as anger.

MILGRAM’S OBEDIENCE STUDIES

● Ordinary people are likely to follow orders given by an authority figure

● People tend to obey orders from other people if they recognize their authority as morally right
and/or legally based.

Milgrams' Agency Theory

Milgram (1974) explained the behavior of his participants by suggesting that people have two states of
behavior when they are in a social situation:

The autonomous state – people direct their own actions, and they take responsibility for the results of
those actions.

• The agentic state – people allow others to direct their actions and then pass off the responsibility for
the consequences to the person giving the orders. In other words, they act as agents for another
person’s will. (sumunod lang ako/ inutusan lang naman ako)

Milgram suggested that two things must be in place for a person to enter the agentic state:
1. The person giving the orders is perceived as being qualified to direct other people’s behavior. That is,
they are seen as legitimate.

2. The person being ordered about is able to believe that the authority will accept responsibility for what
happens.

Agency theory says that people will obey an authority when they believe that the authority will take
responsibility for the consequences of their actions. This is supported by some aspects of Milgram’s
evidence.

For example, when participants were reminded that they had responsibility for their own actions, almost
none of them were prepared to obey. In contrast, many participants who were refusing to go on did so if
the experimenter said that he would take responsibility.

WHAT BREEDS OBEDIENCE?

The Victim’s Distance - In everyday life, too, it is easiest to abuse someone who is distant or
depersonalized. People who might never be cruel to someone in person may be nasty when posting
comments to anonymous people on Internet discussion boards.

“Distance negates responsibility.”

Closeness and Legitimacy of the Authority - The physical presence of the experimenter also affected
obedience. When Milgram’s experimenter gave the commands by telephone, full obedience dropped to
21 percent (although many lied and said they were obeying). Other studies confirm that when the one
making the command is physically close, compliance increases.

The authority, however, must be perceived as legitimate.

INSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY - If the prestige of the authority is that important, then perhaps the
institutional prestige of Yale University legitimized the Milgram experiment commands. In
postexperimental interviews, many participants said that had it not been for Yale’s reputation, they
would not have obeyed.

In everyday life, too, authorities backed by institutions wield social power.

Norm Formation – Sherif

- Assessing suggestibility regarding seeming movement of light

Example: Interpreting events differently after hearing from others; appreciating a tasty food the others
love

Conformity - Asch

❖ Agreement with others’ obviously wrong perceptual judgments

Example: Doing as others do; fads such as tattoos

Obedience - Milgram
❖ Complying with commands to shock another

Example: Soldiers or employees following questionable orders

Group attributes also matter. Conformity is highest when the group has three or more people and
is unanimous, cohesive, and high in status. Conformity is also highest when the response is public
and made without prior commitment.

GROUP SIZE

- In laboratory experiments, a small group can have a big effect. Asch and other researchers found
that 3 to 5 people will elicit much conformity than just 1 or 2. Increasing the number of people
beyond 5 yields diminishing returns.

UNANIMITY

- Imagine yourself in a conformity experiment in which all but one of the people responding before
you give the same wrong answer.

- “I would have answered just the same if he weren’t there.”

- Conformity experiments teach the practical lesson that it is easier to stand up for something if you
can find someone else to stand up with you. The support of one comrade greatly increase a person’s
social courage.

COHESIVENESS- a “we feeling”; the extent to which members of a group are bound together, such as
by attraction to one another.

Example: The more cohesive a group is, the more power it gains over its members. In other words, a
group of your closest friends would influence you more than a group of acquaintances you don’t feel
very close to.

STATUS

As you might suspect, higher-status people tend to have more impact. Junior group members---even
junior social psychologists---acknowledge more conformity to their group than do senior group
members.

Milgram reported that in his obedience studies, people of lower status accepted the experimenter’s
commands more readily than people of higher status.

PUBLIC RESPONSE

“Would people conform more in their public responses than in their private opinions? Or would they
wobble more in their private opinions but be unwilling to conform publicly, lest they appear
wishy-washy?”

The answer is now clear: In experiments, people conform more when they must respond in front of
others rather than writing their answers privately. It is much easier to stand up for what we believe
in privacy of the voting booth than before a group.
PRIOR COMMITMENT

Once they commit themselves to a position, people seldom yield to social pressure.

After you give your judgment, and then hear everyone else disagree, the experimenter offers you an
opportunity to reconsider. In the face of group pressure, do you now back down?

People almost never do. After having made a public commitment, they stick to it. At most, they will
change their judgments in later situations.

EXAMPLE:

Judges in a competition will seldom change their ratings after seeing the other judges rating,
although they might adjust their later performance ratings.

What prompts conformity?

There are two possibilities. A person may bow to the group:

(a) to be accepted and avoid rejection

(b) to obtain important information

NORMATIVE INFLUENCE- conformity based on a person’s desire to fulfill others’ expectations, often
to gain acceptance.

INFORMATIONAL INFLUENCE- conformity occurring when people accept evidence about reality
provided by other people.

WHO CONFORMS?

❖ PERSONALITY - Generally speaking, people higher in agreeableness (who value getting along
with others) and conscientiousness (who follow social norms for neatness and punctuality) are
more likely to conform. People who want to please others eat more candy when a peer eats
some and them hands them the bowl, apparently conforming to help the other person feel more
comfortable.
❖ CULTURE- When researcher in Australia, Austria, Germany, Italy, Jordan, South Africa, Spain and
the United States repeated the obedience experiments, how do you think the results compared
with those American participants? The obedience rates were similar, or even higher. As we’ve
already noted, conformity rates are higher in collectivistic countries and more conformist times
such as the 1950s.
❖ SOCIAL ROLES

REACTANCE

Individuals value their sense of freedom and self-efficacy. When blatant social pressure threatens their
sense of freedom, they often rebel.

EXAMPLE: Romeo and Juliet.

REACTANCE- a motive to protect or restore one’s sense of freedom. Reactance arises when someone
threatens our freedom of action.

ASSERTING UNIQUENESS - people feel better when they see themselves as moderately unique and act
in ways that will assert their individuality.

MODULE 5
PERSUASION - The process by which a message induces change in beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors.
THE CENTRAL ROUTE - The central route to persuasion occurs when interested people focus on the
arguments and respond with favorable thoughts.

THE PERIPHERAL ROUT - The peripheral route to persuasion occurs when people are influenced by
incidental cues such as a speaker’s attractiveness. It focuses on cues that trigger automatic acceptance
without much thinking. In these situations, easily understood familiar statements are more persuasive
than novel statements with the same meaning.

WHAT ARE THE ELEMENTS OF PERSUASION?

WHO SAYS? THE COMMUNICATOR - People are more willing to agree with statements made by leaders
in the political party they identify with. It is not just the message that matters, but also who says it.

CREDIBILITY - Believability. A credible communicator is perceived as both expert and trustworthy.

SLEEPER EFFECT – a delayed impact of a message that occurs when an initially discounted message
becomes effective, such as we remember the message but forget the reason for discounting it

PERCEIVED EXPERTISE

How do you become an authoritative “expert”?

One way is to begin by saying things the audience agrees with, which makes you seem smart.

One reason the “scientific consensus” about climate change fails to persuade is that people

count as “expert” someone whose conclusions support their own preexisting values and views.

- Congenial views seems more expert”

1.3. SPEAKING STYLE

- Another way to appear credible is to speak confidently and fluently.

- it is not good to speak too much and not listen.

1.4. PERCEIVED TRUSTWORTHINESS

- We are more willing to listen to a communicator we trust

SIX PERSUASION PRINCIPLES

AUTHORITY - People to defer credible experts.

APPLICATION: Establish your expertise: identify problems you have solved and people you have served.
LIKING - People respond more affirmatively to those they like

APPLICATION: Win friends and influence people. Create bonds based on similar interest, praise freely

SOCIAL PROOF - People allow the example of others to validate how to think, feel, and act.

APPLICATION: Use “peer power” ---have respected others lead the way

RECIPROCITY - People feel obliged to repay in kind what they’ve received.

APPLICATION: Be generous with your time and resources. What goes around, comes around.

CONSISTENCY: People tend to honor their public commitments.

APPLICATION: Instead of telling restaurant reservation caller “Please call if you change your plans,”
ask, “WilL you call if you change your plans?” and no-shows

SCARCITY: People prize what’s scarce.

APPLICATION: Highlight genuinely exclusive information or opportunities. will drop.

Attractiveness- having qualities that appeal to an audience. An appealing communicator (often someone
similar to the audience) is most persuasive on matters of subjective preference.

Example: Sure, Girl Scout cookies are tasty, but a lot fewer people would buy them if they were sold by
unattractive middle-aged men instead of cute little girls.

PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS - Arguments, especially emotional ones, are often more influential when
they come from people we consider beautiful. Most people understand that attractiveness matters most
when people are making superficial judgments.

SIMILARITY ALSO MAKES FOR ATTRACTIVENESS - We tend to like people who are like us. We also are
influenced by them. You might have seen some consumer-generated ads online or on TV.

For example: Since 2006, Doritos has asked consumers to make their own 30-seconds commercial, and
the winning ad is shown during the Super Bowl. Do these types of ads work? If people see the ad creator
as a “regular guy” --- someone like them---they might.

THE EFFECT OF GOOD FEELINGS - Messages also become persuasive through association with good
feelings, such as what often accompanies munching food or hearing pleasant music. Receiving money or
free sample often induces people money or buy something.

THE EFFECT OF AROUSING FEAR - Messages can also be effective by evoking negative emotions.

Example: When persuading people to cut down on smoking, get a tetanus, or vaccination shot, or drive
carefully, a fear-arousing message can be potent.

MESSAGE CONTEXT -The context of your message---especially what immediately precedes it---can make
a big difference in how persuasive it is.

FOOT IN THE DOOR PHENOMENON - the tendency for people who have first agreed to a small request
to comply later with a larger request.
EXAMPLES: First, your parents request you to clean your wardrobe to which you say yes. Then they ask
you to clean your entire room, to again which you agree.

LOWBALL TECHNIQUE- a tactic for getting people to agree to something. People who agree to an initial
request will often still comply when the requester ups the ante, People who receive only the costly
request are less likely to comply with it.

DOOR-IN-THE-FACE TECHNIQUE- a strategy for gaining a concession. After someone first turns down a
large request (the door-in-the-face), the same requester counteroffers with a more reasonable request

PRIMACY EFFECT- other things being equal, information presented first usually has the most influence.

RECENCY EFFECT-information presented last sometimes has the most influence. Recency effects are less
common than primacy effects

TWO-STEP FLOW OF COMMUNICATION- the process by which media influence often occurs through
opinion leaders, who in turn influence others.

MODULE 6

GROUP - is a two or more people who interact and who influence one another.

SOCIAL FACILITATION

(1) ORIGINAL MEANING: the tendency of people to perform simple or well-learned tasks better when
others are present.

(2) CURRENT MEANING: the strengthening of dominant (prevalent, likely) responses in the presence of
others.

CROWDING: THE PRESENCE OF MANY OTHERS

❖ The effect of others’ presence increases with their numbers. Sometimes the arousal and
self-conscious attention created by a large audience interferes with well-learned, automatic
behaviors, such as speaking.
❖ Being in a crowd intensifies positive or negative reactions.

WHY ARE WE AROUSED IN THE PRESENCE OF OTHERS?

1. EVALUATION APPREHENSION- Nickolas Cottrell surmised that observers makes us apprehensive

because we wonder how they are evaluating us. - Concern for how others are evaluating us.

2. DRIVEN BY DISTRACTION- We wonder how co-actors are doing or how an audience is reacting, we
become distracted.

3. MERE PRESENCE- Zajonc, however believed that the mere presence of others produces some
arousal even without evaluation apprehension or arousing distraction.

SOCIAL LOAFING- the tendency for people to exert less effort when they pool their efforts toward a
common goal than when they are individually accountable
FREE RIDERS- people who benefit from the group but give little in return.

Deindividuation - loss of self-awareness and evaluation apprehension; occurs in group situations

that foster responsiveness to group norms, good or bad

GROUP SIZE- A group has the power not only to arouse its members but also to render them
unidentifiable.

ANONYMITY - How can we be sure that crowds offer anonymity? We can’t. But we can experiment
with anonymity to see if it actually lessens inhibitions.

AROUSING AND DISTRACTING ACTIVITIES - There is a self-reinforcing pleasure in acting impulsively

while seeing others do likewise.

• When we see other act as we are acting, we think they feel as we do, which reinforces our own
feelings. Moreover, impulsive group actions absorbs our attention.

SELF-AWARENESS- a self-conscious state in which attention focuses on oneself. It makes people

more sensitive to their own attitudes and dispositions.

GROUP POLARIZATION- group-produced enhancement of members preexisting tendencies; a

strengthening of the member’s average tendency, not a split within a group.

Group decisions were usually riskier. This “risky shift phenomenon” set off a wave of group-risking
studies. These revealed that risky shift occurs not only when a group decides by consensus; after a
brief discussion, individuals too, will alter their decisions.

NORMATIVE INFLUENCE (influence based on a person’s desire to be accepted or admired by others

INFORMATIONAL INFLUENCE – Going along with the group because you think they know more than
you do. You change your own beliefs or attitudes because you think that the group is right.

Social comparison - Moreover, we want people to like us, so we may express stronger opinions after
discovering that others share our views

PLURALISTIC IGNORANCE- sometimes a false presumption of another’s disinterest may prevent two
people with a mutual romantic interest from connecting. - A false impression of what most other
people are thinking, or feeling, or how they are responding.

GROUPTHINK-“the mode of thinking that persons engage in when concurrence-seeking becomes so

dominant in a cohesive in-group that it tends to override realistic appraisal of alternative courses of
action.”

An illusion of vulnerability- excessive optimism that blinded them to warnings of danger.

Unquestioned belief in the group’s morality- group members assume the inherent morality of their
group and ignore ethical and moral issues.

Rationalization- the group discounts challenges by collectively justifying their decisions

Stereotyped view of opponent- groupthinkers consider their enemies too evil to negotiate with or two
weak and unintelligent to defend themselves against the planned initiative
Conformity pressure- group members rebuffed those who raised doubts about the group’s assumptions
and plans, at times by personal sarcasm.

Self-censorship- to avoid uncomfortable disagreements, members withheld or discounted their

misgivings.

Illusion of unanimity- Self-censorship and pressure not to puncture the consensus create an illusion of
unanimity. What is more, the apparent consensus confirms the group’s decision.

Mindguards - some members protect the group from information that would call into question the
effectiveness or morality of its decision.

Be impartial- do not endorse any position. Don’t start group discussions by having people state their
decisions; doing so suppresses information sharing and degrades the quality of decisions

Encourage critical evaluation: assign a “devil’s advocate.” Better yet, welcome the input of a genuine
dissenter, which does even more to stimulate original thinking and to open a group to opposing views

Occasionally subdivide the group, then reunite to air differences

Welcome critiques from outside experts and associates.

Before implementing, call a “second-chance” meeting to air any lingering doubts.

Combine group and solitary brainstorming. Group brainstorming is most productive when it precedes
solo brainstorming.

Have group members interact by writing. Another way to take advantage of group priming, without
being impeded by the one-at-a-time rule, is to have group members write and read, rather than speak
and listen. Moreover, when leaders urge people to generate lots of ideas (rather than just good ideas),
they generate both more ideas and more good ideas.

Incorporate electronic brainstorming. There is a potentially more efficient way to avoid the verbal traffic
jams of traditional group brainstorming in larger groups: let individuals produce and read ideas on
networked computers. So, when group member freely combine their creative ideas and varied insights,
the frequent result is not groupthink but group problem solving. The wisdom of groups is evident in
everyday life as well as in the laboratory:

Weather forecasting: “Two forecasters will come up with a forecast that is more accurate than either
would have come up with working alone.

Google. Google has become a dominant search engine by harnessing what James Surowiecki calls “The
wisdom of Crowds” Google interprets a link to page X as a vote for Page X, and weights most heavily links
from pages that are themselves highly ranked.