conformity
Giving in to social pressure
definitions
• Conformity - acting or believing because of
social pressure
• compliance - doing what someone asks you
to do
conformity
• Everyone else is doing it
• Deliberate social pressure
• not necessarily because you think it is
right
Sherif’s study
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point of light in dark room
appears to move
Autokinetic effect
impossible to judge distance
someone says 2 inches
subject agrees
Asch
• Judgments of lines
• easy to make
10 of 15
• First few trials everyone gives right answer
• then everyone gives wrong answer
• what does the subject do?
• many give the wrong answer
13 of 15
15 of 15
Why do people conform?
• Two main reasons
• Information
• Normative
Informational
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Sherif situation
ambiguous, no experience
others provide information
rational response
Normative pressure
• Asch situation – clear, unambiguous
• just because other do
• not want to be deviant
Obedience and compliance
compliance - doing what someone
asks you to do
Obedience – similar but less choice
Milgram Study
• Not conformity - no group pressure
• Obedience
• but why?
Does it mean people are terrible?
That they will do anything?
That it explains Nazi behavior?
Or Bosnia, Cambodia etc.?
NO!
• Given the right situation people will comply
or be obedient
• not necessarily bad or weak people
Situational pressure
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Authority figure
strange situation
told there was no choice
trust experimenter
also - psychology experiment
– very powerful
– contract
The power of the experiment
• Orne - hypnosis study
• hypnotized
• pretend to be hypnotized
• neither
Ask each person to:
• Reach into cage with snake
• pick dime out of nitric acid
• throw acid in person’s face
results
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
controls
hypnotized
pretend
results
• Controls did quite a lot
• hypnotized did more than controls
• pretend did even more than hypnotized
Compliance - other factors
the Hawthorne effect
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Move to special room
pay depended on groups of sex
two 5 minute rest periods
two 10 minute rest periods
six 5 minute rest periods
light lunch provided
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Work stopped half-hour early
work stopped an hour early
work stopped an hour and half early
five day workweek (from six)
all original conditions reinstated
results
Work increased with every
change
Why?
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Special treatment felt good
assumed changes were for the better
were happy and wanted to please
were compliant
Foot-in-the-door
• Small request first vs. no small request
• large request later
• No first contact
• agree only
• agree and 8 questions
• 3 days later - large request
results
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
one contact
agree only
performance
Safe driving study
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Petition for environment
petition for safe driving
Small sign for environment
small sign for safe driving
• huge sign for safe driving
results
80
70
60
50
issue different
issue similar
40
30
20
10
0
task different
task similar
one contact
door-in-the-face
• huge request first
• small request second
results
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
small only
large first
Obligation - favors
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Pleasant or unpleasant person
person brings a coke
experimenter brings a coke
no coke
person asks a favor - selling raffle tickets
results
2
1.8
1.6
1.4
1.2
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
unpleasant
pleasant
no favor
irrelevant favor
relevant favor
reactance
• Jack Brehm
• too much pressure or too obvious
• resist threats to freedom of action
• opposite effect