Conformity, Compliance and
Obedience
• What is conformity? A change in
behavior/opinion due to real or perceived
pressure from others.
• Stand-out points from ch. 2?
• Do we see conformity in human service
settings?
–
–
–
–
Clients as individuals or in groups
Staff as a group
Funding decisions
Policy and procedure discussions
• Consequences?
Motivators for conformity
Consider from both your perspective and the
client’s perspective
• Reward and punishment
– What might these be in a workplace?
• Need for information
– How might this occur in a workplace?
What makes us more likely to
conform?
•
•
•
•
Unanimity
Commitment
Accountability
The person and the culture: s-e as a professional?
Length of time on the job? Standing in the workplace?
• Who are the other people involved?
– Experts, high social status, comparable
Observe and analyze http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSsPfbup0ac&feature
Responses to social influence
• Compliance-power
– Reward or punishment driven
• Identification-attractiveness
– Desire to be like the person
• Internalization-credibility
– Congruency with our values.
Compliance
• Behavior or attitude lives only as long as
the threat of punishment or the promise of
reward is present.
• Doesn’t involve much thought about the
behavior/attitude itself…simply a
response.
Identification
• Lasting behavior/attitude if I continue to
admire/value/like the person I’m
conforming to.
• May diminish because others become
more important, more desirable.
• May diminish because it becomes more
important to me to be right.
Internalization
• We take on as our own the belief or the
attitude – no longer depends on
reward/punishment or the model’s
influence.
•
•
Read the article “Mentoring Marines…”
In small groups:
1. Discuss the article and analyze what
conditions might increase conformity.
Identify two examples.
2. In what ways are compliance, identification
and internalization relevant to this situation?
3. With what other social problems could we
take the approach described in the article?
•
•
Read the article “Mentoring Marines…”
In small groups:
1. Discuss the article and analyze what
conditions might increase conformity.
Identify two examples.
2. In what ways are compliance, identification
and internalization relevant to this situation?
3. With what other social problems could we
take the approach described in the article?
Strategizing
1. Brainstorm work situations where
conformity may pose problems.
2. You’ll be assigned a concept; develop
a short skit that demonstrates the
concept in one of the work situations.
3. After the skit, explain what’s going on.
Letting things go…the Bystander Effect
and Social Problems
What are some situations in which ordinary
people could take action and reduce a
negative outcome?
• Violence
• Acquaintance rape
• Interpersonal violence
Key factors
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Is this an emergency?
Is anyone else around?
Are they getting involved?
Is there group cohesion?
Will I see these people later?
Am I responsible?
What is the cost to me of getting involved?
Will I be useful?
What are the costs/benefits of not helping?
Do I share a common fate?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
SEXUAL VIOLENCE PREVENTION
THROUGH BYSTANDER
EDUCATION: AN EXPERIMENTAL
EVALUATION
Victoria L. Banyard, Mary M. Moynihan, and
Elizabethe G. Plante
University of New HampshireJOURNAL OF
COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY, Vol. 35, No. 4,
463–481 (2007)
Study details
• 3 groups, control, 1 session and 3 session
• Intervention included: knowledge, role of
bystander, role playing.
• Measures included: sexual assault
knowledge, rape myth acceptance,
efficacy scale, bystander attitudes,
bystander behavior, decisional balance.