VL8 - Comformity

Conformity: When and Why Conformity occurs when people change their behavior due to the real (or imagined) influence of others. There are two main reasons people conform: informational and normative social influences.

informational Social influence: the need to Know What’s “right” informational social influence occurs when people do not know the correct (or best) action to take. They look to the behavior of others as an important source of information, using it to choose appropriate courses of action for themselves. Informational social influence usually results in private acceptance, in which people genuinely believe in what other people are doing or saying.

• the importance of being accurate In situations where it is important to be accurate, the tendency to conform to other people through informational social influence increases.

• When informational Conformity backfires Using other people as a source of information can backfire when they are wrong about what’s going on.

• When Will People Conform to informational Social influence? People are more likely to conform to informational social influence when the situation is ambiguous, when they are in a crisis, or if experts are present.

normative Social influence: the need to be accepted normative social influence occurs when we change our behavior to match that of others because we want to remain a member of the group in good standing and continue to gain the advantages of group membership. We conform to the group’s social norms, implicit or explicit rules for acceptable behaviors, values, and attitudes. Normative social influence usually results in public compliance but not private acceptance of other people’s ideas and behaviors.

• Conformity and Social approval: the asch lineJudgment Studies In a series of classic studies, Solomon Asch found that people would conform, at least some of the time, to the obviously wrong answer of the group.

• the importance of being accurate, revisited When it is important to be accurate, people are more likely to resist normative social influence and go against the group, giving the right answer. But public conformity still occurs.

• the Consequences of resisting normative Social influence Resisting normative social influence can lead to ridicule, ostracism, and rejection by the group.

• When Will People Conform to normative Social influence? Social impact theory specifies when normative social influence is most likely to occur by referring to the strength, immediacy, and size of the group. We are more likely to conform when the group is one we care about, when the group members are unanimous in their thoughts or behaviors, when the group has three or more members, and when we are members of collec- tivist cultures. Past conformity gives people idio- syncrasy credits, allowing them to deviate from the group without serious consequences.

•      minority influence: When the few influence the many Under certain conditions, an individual (or small number of people) can influence the majority. The key is consistency in the presentation of the minority viewpoint.

Strategies for using Social influence Knowing about the tendency to conform can inform our strategic efforts to change the behavior of others

• the role of injunctive and Descriptive norms Communicating injunctive norms, expectations regarding the behaviors that society approves of, is a more powerful way to create change than communicating descriptive norms, expectations regarding how people actually behave.

• using norms to Change behavior: beware the “boomerang effect” One must be careful that descriptive norms do not create a boomerang effect, making an undesirable behavior more likely than it previously was.

• other tactics of Social influence Other efforts to change people’s behavior include the foot- in-the-door technique, in which the requestor first secures agreement with a small favor before following up with a larger request, and the door-in-the-face technique, in which the requester first asks for a large favor that will certainly be rejected before following up with a smaller, second request. Propaganda, as utilized in Nazi Germany, is yet another strategy.

Obedience to authority In the most famous series of studies in social psychology, Stanley Milgram examined obedience to authority. He found chilling levels of obedience, to the point where a majority of participants administered what they thought were potentially lethal shocks to a fellow human being.

• the role of normative Social influence Normative pressures make it difficult for people to stop obeying authority figures. They want to please the authority figure by doing a good job.

• the role of informational Social influence The obedience studies created a confusing situation for participants, with competing, ambiguous demands. Unclear about how to define what was going on, they followed the orders of the expert.

• other reasons Why We obey Participants conformed to the wrong norm: They continued to follow the “obey authority” norm even when it was no longer appropriate. It was difficult for them to abandon this norm because of the fast- paced nature of the study, the fact that the shock levels increased in small increments, and their loss of a feeling of personal responsibility.

• the obedience Studies, then and now Milgram’s research design was criticized on ethical grounds, involving deception, informed consent, psychological distress, the right to withdraw, and inflicted insight. A recent U.S. replication found that the level of obedience in 2006 was not signifi- cantly different from that found in the classic study in the 1960s.

Any act performed with the goal of benefiting another person