Social Influence (1)

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Social influence

Social influence occurs when a person’s emotions, opinions, or behaviors are affected by others. Social influence takes many forms and can be seen in conformity, socialization, peer pressure, obedience, Leadership, Persuasion, sales, and Marketing. In 1958, Harvard psychologist Herbert Kelman identified three broad varieties of social influence.

Compliance is when people appear to agree with others but actually keep their dissenting opinions private.

 Identification is when people are influenced by someone who is liked and respected, such as a famous celebrity.

 Internalization is when people accept a belief or behavior and agree both publicly and privately.

Morton Deutsch and Harold Gerard described two psychological needs that lead humans to conform to the expectations of others. These include our need to be right (informational social influence) and our need to be liked (normative social influence). Informational influence (or social proof) is an influence to accept information from another as evidence about reality. Informational influence comes into play when people are uncertain, either because stimuli are intrinsically ambiguous or because there is social disagreement. Normative influence is an influence to conform to the positive expectations of others. In terms of Kelman’s typology, normative influence leads to public compliance, whereas informational influence leads to private acceptance.

Types

Social Influence is a broad term that relates to many different phenomena. Listed below are some major types of social influence that are being researched in the field of social psychology. For more information, follow the main ARTICLE links provided.

 

Compliance

Compliance is the act of responding favorably to an explicit or implicit request offered by others. Technically, compliance is a change in behavior but not necessarily in Attitude; one can comply due to mere obedience or by otherwise opting to withhold private thoughts due to social pressures. According to Kelman’s 1958 paper, the satisfaction derived from compliance is due to the social effect of the accepting influence (i.e., people comply for an expected reward or punishment-aversion).

Identification

Identification is the changing of attitudes or behaviors due to the influence of someone who is admired. Advertisements that rely upon celebrity endorsements to market their products are taking advantage of this phenomenon. According to Kelman, the desired relationship that the identifier relates to the behavior or attitude change.

Internalization

Internalization is the process of acceptance of a set of norms established by people or groups that are influential to the individual. The individual accepts the influence because the content of the influence accepted is intrinsically rewarding. It is congruent with the individual’s value system, and according to Kelman the “reward” of internalization is “the content of the new behavior”.

Conformity

Conformity is a type of social influence involving a change in behavior, belief, or thinking to align with those of others or with normative standards. It is the most common and pervasive form of social influence. Social psychology research in conformity tends to distinguish between two varieties: informational conformity (also called social proof, or “internalization” in Kelman’s terms ) and normative conformity (“compliance” in Kelman’s terms).  In the case of peer pressure, a person is convinced to do something that they might not want to do (such as taking illegal drugs) but which they perceive as “necessary” to keep a positive relationship with other people (such as their friends). Conformity from peer pressure generally results from identification with the group members or from compliance of some members to appease others.  Conformity can be in appearance, or may be more complete in nature; impacting an individual both publicly and privately.  

Compliance (also referred to as acquiescence) demonstrates a public conformity to a group majority or norm, while the individual continues to privately disagree or dissent, holding on to their original beliefs or to an alternative set of beliefs differing from the majority. Compliance appears as conformity, but there is a division between the public and the private self.

Conversion includes the private acceptance that is absent in compliance. The individual’s original behaviour, beliefs, or thinking changes to align with that of others (the influencers), both publicly and privately. The individual has accepted the behavior, belief, or thinking, and has internalized it, making it his own. Conversion may also refer to individual members of a group changing from their initial (and varied) opinions to adopt the opinions of others, which may differ from their original opinions. The resulting group position may be a hybrid of various aspects of individual initial opinions, or it may be an alternative independent of the initial positions reached through consensus.  What appears to be conformity may in fact be congruence. Congruence occurs when an individual’s behavior, belief, or thinking is already aligned with that of the others, and no change occurs.

Reactance

Reactance is the adoption of a view contrary to the view that a person is being pressured to accept, perhaps due to a perceived threat to behavioral freedoms. This phenomenon has also been called anticonformity. While the results are the opposite of what the influencer intended, the reactive behavior is a result of social pressure. It is notable that anticonformity does not necessarily mean independence. In many studies, reactance manifests itself in a deliberate rejection of an influence, even if the influence is clearly correct.

 

Obedience

Obedience is a form of social influence that derives from an authority figure. The Milgram experiment, Zimbardo’s Stanford prison experiment, and the Hofling hospital experiment are three particularly well-known experiments on obedience, and they all conclude that humans are surprisingly obedient in the presence of perceived legitimate authority figures.

Persuasion

Persuasion is the process of guiding oneself or another toward the adoption of an attitude by rational or symbolic means. Robert Cialdini defined six “weapons of influence”: reciprocity, commitment, social proof, authority, liking, and scarcity. These “weapons of influence” attempt to bring about conformity by directed means. Persuasion can occur through appeals to reason or appeals to emotion.

 


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Social influence is a powerful force that can shape our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. It can be used to persuade us to do things we might not otherwise do, or to make us feel a certain way about ourselves or others.

There are many different types of social influence, each with its own unique set of characteristics. Some of the most common types of social influence include:

Social influence can be a positive force in our lives. It can help us to learn new things, to make friends, and to feel like we belong. However, social influence can also be a negative force. It can lead us to make bad decisions, to hurt others, and to harm ourselves.

It is important to be aware of the different types of social influence and how they can affect us. We need to learn how to resist negative social influence and how to use positive social influence to our advantage.

Here are some tips for resisting negative social influence:

Here are some tips for using positive social influence to your advantage:

Social influence is a powerful force that can shape our lives. It is important to be aware of the different types of social influence and how they can affect us. We need to learn how to resist negative social influence and how to use positive social influence to our advantage.

What is social influence?

Social influence is the process by which individuals modify their attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors in response to real or imagined pressure from others.

What are the different types of social influence?

There are four main types of social influence: conformity, compliance, obedience, and persuasion.

What are some examples of social influence?

Some examples of social influence include:

What are the benefits of social influence?

Social influence can have both positive and negative effects. Some of the benefits of social influence include:

What are the risks of social influence?

Some of the risks of social influence include:

How can we protect ourselves from the risks of social influence?

There are a number of things that we can do to protect ourselves from the risks of social influence, including:

  1. Which of the following is NOT a type of social influence?
    (A) Conformity
    (B) Obedience
    (C) Compliance
    (D) Social loafing

  2. Which of the following is an example of conformity?
    (A) A group of people all agreeing to wear the same color shirt to a party.
    (B) A person following orders from a police officer.
    (C) A person agreeing to buy a product after being persuaded by a salesperson.
    (D) A person working less hard when they are part of a group than when they are working alone.

  3. Which of the following is an example of obedience?
    (A) A group of people all agreeing to wear the same color shirt to a party.
    (B) A person following orders from a police officer.
    (C) A person agreeing to buy a product after being persuaded by a salesperson.
    (D) A person working less hard when they are part of a group than when they are working alone.

  4. Which of the following is an example of compliance?
    (A) A group of people all agreeing to wear the same color shirt to a party.
    (B) A person following orders from a police officer.
    (C) A person agreeing to buy a product after being persuaded by a salesperson.
    (D) A person working less hard when they are part of a group than when they are working alone.

  5. Which of the following is an example of social loafing?
    (A) A group of people all agreeing to wear the same color shirt to a party.
    (B) A person following orders from a police officer.
    (C) A person agreeing to buy a product after being persuaded by a salesperson.
    (D) A person working less hard when they are part of a group than when they are working alone.

  6. Which of the following is NOT a factor that influences conformity?
    (A) The size of the group
    (B) The cohesiveness of the group
    (C) The status of the group members
    (D) The ambiguity of the situation

  7. Which of the following is NOT a factor that influences obedience?
    (A) The authority of the person giving the orders
    (B) The legitimacy of the authority figure
    (C) The perceived legitimacy of the orders
    (D) The perceived consequences of disobeying the orders

  8. Which of the following is NOT a factor that influences compliance?
    (A) The attractiveness of the persuader
    (B) The credibility of the persuader
    (C) The power of the persuader
    (D) The number of times the persuader makes the request

  9. Which of the following is NOT a factor that influences social loafing?
    (A) The size of the group
    (B) The cohesiveness of the group
    (C) The perceived importance of the task
    (D) The perceived accountability of the individual

  10. Which of the following is the best way to reduce conformity?
    (A) Increase the size of the group.
    (B) Increase the cohesiveness of the group.
    (C) Make the situation more ambiguous.
    (D) Increase the individual’s sense of self-efficacy.

  11. Which of the following is the best way to reduce obedience?
    (A) Reduce the authority of the person giving the orders.
    (B) Reduce the legitimacy of the authority figure.
    (C) Increase the perceived consequences of disobeying the orders.
    (D) Increase the individual’s sense of moral responsibility.

  12. Which of the following is the best way to increase compliance?
    (A) Make the persuader more attractive.
    (B) Make the persuader more credible.
    (C) Increase the power of the persuader.
    (D) Increase the number of times the persuader makes the request.

  13. Which of the following is the best way to reduce social loafing?
    (A) Reduce the size of the group.
    (B) Increase the cohesiveness of the group.
    (C) Make the task more important.
    (D) Increase the individual’s sense of accountability.

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