Normative influence
The impact of an established behaviour of the group “group norms” that you are likely to conform to. E.g. take off shoes at home, you are likely to conform to that influence
Following group norms
Avoid being ridiculed by our family and friends
Defining social influence
Social influence is the process by which attitudes, perceptions and behaviours can be influenced by the real or implied presence of others (Kassim et al 2002). May involve compliance where one publicly acts according to perceive norms while privately disagreeing with such norms
Public conformity
- (Ache line experiment) Only in the presence of others
Private conformity
- Private conformity - A behaviour that you would display even if people weren’t watching
Influences on conformity
- Group Size - Conformity increases with group size up to four persons in the group, and then levels off
- Awareness of Group Norms - Conformity increases when the norm is “activated” or brought to the person’s attention
- An Ally In Dissent - The presence of a single confederate who disagrees with the majority reduces conformity
- Cultures - Collectivist cultures show a high level of conformity and unanimity throughout the entire population, Individualist cultures conform led to group norms
Sherif Experiment
- In a classic experiment Sherif (1935) showed participants a single pinpoint of light in a dark room
- Participants were asked to estimate individually how far the light moved from it’s original position
- After the initial individual attempt participants worked in pairs and then groups to try agreed consensus
- Group consensus was reached by establishing an agreed point
Criticism of Sherif’s work
- The group used consisted of three people. They may not have considered themselves as part of a group
- There was no wrong or right answer, it was an ambiguous task, and Sherif told them that he was going to move the light, so there were more likely to changes their minds anyway
Factors of deindividuation
- Anonymity - People are not afraid of the consequences of their actions
- Increases Awareness/Pressure of Social Norms - As people are surrounded they may feel more pressure to conform to the “social norms” around them
- Shift of attention to external factors - People may be reacting to their environment more than their internal beliefs
Zimbardo Prison experiment (1973)
- Phillip Zimbardo based the standard prison experiment on social power, i.e. the forces available to motivate attitude/behaviour change
- In this experiment, some individuals were given greater power by being allowed to decide when to reward and/or punish others
Zimbardo Prison experiment strengths
- Zimbardo showed that situation factors, such as, the power of structure of an organisation, can greatly impact the way we behave
- Even stable individuals, like the student participants of the experiment will often abuse the social power they possess behaving in unacceptable ways
Zimbardo prison experiment weaknesses
- There are serious ethical issues here in exposing the participants to degrading and humiliating hostility
- While the mock guards may have pretended to be aggressive, the physical abuse and harassment they showed we beyond more than pretending
- It is possible that middle-ages people would have been less affected by the mock prison than the young college students
