Social influence
Social influence is the process by which a person's thoughts, feelings, attitudes, or behaviors are changed due
to the presence or actions of other people. It is a fundamental aspect of human interaction, often happening
without direct awareness, and takes various forms, including conformity (following group norms),
obedience (following commands from authority), and compliance (agreeing to requests).
Conformity
Conformity refers to the tendency of an individual to agree or choose not to express discomfort with the
majority, even if the masses are wrong. It is a type of social influence in which an individual changes their
behaviour and attitudes in order to adhere to the existing social norms. Such pressures toward conformity
stems from the fact that in many contexts there are explicit or unspoken rules indicating how we should or
ought to behave. These rules are known as social norms, and they often exert powerful effects on our
behavior.
In some instances, social norms are both detailed and stated explicitly. For
For instance, governments generally function through written constitutions and laws; athletic contests are
usually regulated by written rules; and signs in many public places (e.g., along highways, in parks, at airports)
describe expected behavior in considerable detail.
In contrast, other norms are unspoken or implicit. Most of us obey such unwritten rules as "Don't stand too
close to strangers" and "Don't arrive at parties exactly on time." Similarly, we are often influenced by current
and rapidly changing standards of dress, speech, and grooming. Regardless of whether social norms are
explicit or implicit, though, one fact is clear: Most people obey them most of the time. Although this
human tendency to follow the expectations of the group may strike you as objectionable, after all, it does
place restrictions on personal freedom, there is a strong basis that without conformity, we would quickly
find ourselves facing social chaos. Imagine what would happen outside movie theaters, at stadiums, or at
supermarket checkout counters if people did not obey the norm or cave into social pressure.
Social Pressure
Social pressure is the influence that people feel from others in their social circle or society at large to act,
think, or behave in a certain way. It can encourage positive actions, like being kind or working hard, but it
can also push individuals towards negative behaviors, such as conforming to harmful norms or engaging in
risky activities just to fit in. For instance, when we discover that our judgement, beliefs, attitude or decisions
are different from those around us, we feel confused and scared to be the odd one out. Suppose that you
discover that your answer to a homework problem is different from that obtained by your friend group.
Chances are rather than staying confident on your answer you will experience considerable anxiety. Next,
you discover a third person after the other two. You will feel that you made a mistake and the pressure to
accept the common answer of your friend group would be great. Caving to this type of social pressure is
conformity.
To demonstrate this pressure to conform, Solomon Asch conducted a Line Judgement experiment. He
asked participants to respond to a series of simple perceptual problems. On each problem, participants
indicated which of three comparison lines matched a standard line in length. Several other persons (usually
six to eight) were also present during the session, but, unknown to the real participant, all were assistants of
the experimenter. On certain occasions, known as critical trials (twelve out of the eighteen problems), the
accomplices offered answers that were clearly wrong: they unanimously chose the wrong line as a match for
the standard line. However, they stated their answers before the real participants responded. Thus, on these
, critical trials, the persons in Asch's study faced precisely the type of dilemma described above. Results
concluded: A large majority of the persons in Asch's research chose conformity. Across several different
studies, fully 76 percent of those tested went along with the group's false answers at least once; overall, they
voiced agreement with these false answers 37 percent of the time. In contrast, only 5 percent of the
participants in a control group, who responded to the same problem alone, made such errors.
In further studies, Asch (1951, 1956) investigated the effects of shattering the conformity by having one of
the accomplices break with the others. In one study, this person gave the correct answer, becoming an "ally"
of the real participant; in another study, he chose an answer in between the one given by the group or
and the correct one; and in a third, he chose the answer that was even more incorrect than that chosen by the
majority. In the latter two conditions, in other words, he broke from the group but still disagreed with the
real participants. Results indicated that conformity was reduced under all three conditions. However,
somewhat surprisingly, this reduction was greatest when the dissenting assistant expressed views even more
extreme (and wrong) than the majority. Together, these findings suggest that it is the unanimity of the group
that is crucial; once it is broken, no matter how, resisting group pressure becomes much easier.
In later studies, Asch repeated his basic procedure, but with one important change, instead of stating their
answers out loud, participants wrote them down on a piece of paper. Conformity dropped sharply because
there was no way for the real participants to know what the other persons were doing. This finding points to
the importance of distinguishing between public conformity and private acceptance-actually coming to feel
or think as others do.
● Public conformity- Doing or saying what others around us say or do.Often, it appears, we follow
social norms overtly but don't actually change our private views (Maas &Clark, 1984.
● Private acceptance- Actually coming to feel or think as others do. This distinction between public
conformity and private acceptance is an important one.
Factors Affecting Conformity
● Cohesiveness: It has been observed that one important factor that influences conformity is
cohesiveness, which can be defined as the degree of attraction felt by an individual toward some
group. When cohesiveness is high-when we like or admire some group of persons-pressures toward
conformity are magnified. After all, we know that one way of gaining the acceptance of such
persons is to be like them in various ways. On the other hand, when cohesiveness is low, pressures to
conform, too, are low; why should we change our behavior to be like people we don't especially like
or admire?
● Group size: A second factor that exerts important effects on the tendency to conform is the size of
the influencing group. Asch (1956) and other early researchers (Gerard, Wilhelmy, & Conolley,
1968) found that conformity increases with growth of the group size but only up to about three
members; beyond that point, it appears to level off and even decrease. However, more recent
research has failed to confirm these early findings (e.g., Bond & Smith, 1996). Instead, these later
studies found that conformity tended to increase with group size up to eight group members and
beyond. It even appears that the larger the group, the greater our tendency to go along with it, even
if this means behaving differently than we'd really prefer.
● Relevance of norms: Norms can be of two types- Descriptive norms and Injunctive norms.
Descriptive norms are ones that simply describe what most people do in a given situation. They
influence behavior by informing us about what is generally seen as effective or adaptive in that
situation. In contrast, injunctive norms specify what ought to be done, what is approved or
Social influence is the process by which a person's thoughts, feelings, attitudes, or behaviors are changed due
to the presence or actions of other people. It is a fundamental aspect of human interaction, often happening
without direct awareness, and takes various forms, including conformity (following group norms),
obedience (following commands from authority), and compliance (agreeing to requests).
Conformity
Conformity refers to the tendency of an individual to agree or choose not to express discomfort with the
majority, even if the masses are wrong. It is a type of social influence in which an individual changes their
behaviour and attitudes in order to adhere to the existing social norms. Such pressures toward conformity
stems from the fact that in many contexts there are explicit or unspoken rules indicating how we should or
ought to behave. These rules are known as social norms, and they often exert powerful effects on our
behavior.
In some instances, social norms are both detailed and stated explicitly. For
For instance, governments generally function through written constitutions and laws; athletic contests are
usually regulated by written rules; and signs in many public places (e.g., along highways, in parks, at airports)
describe expected behavior in considerable detail.
In contrast, other norms are unspoken or implicit. Most of us obey such unwritten rules as "Don't stand too
close to strangers" and "Don't arrive at parties exactly on time." Similarly, we are often influenced by current
and rapidly changing standards of dress, speech, and grooming. Regardless of whether social norms are
explicit or implicit, though, one fact is clear: Most people obey them most of the time. Although this
human tendency to follow the expectations of the group may strike you as objectionable, after all, it does
place restrictions on personal freedom, there is a strong basis that without conformity, we would quickly
find ourselves facing social chaos. Imagine what would happen outside movie theaters, at stadiums, or at
supermarket checkout counters if people did not obey the norm or cave into social pressure.
Social Pressure
Social pressure is the influence that people feel from others in their social circle or society at large to act,
think, or behave in a certain way. It can encourage positive actions, like being kind or working hard, but it
can also push individuals towards negative behaviors, such as conforming to harmful norms or engaging in
risky activities just to fit in. For instance, when we discover that our judgement, beliefs, attitude or decisions
are different from those around us, we feel confused and scared to be the odd one out. Suppose that you
discover that your answer to a homework problem is different from that obtained by your friend group.
Chances are rather than staying confident on your answer you will experience considerable anxiety. Next,
you discover a third person after the other two. You will feel that you made a mistake and the pressure to
accept the common answer of your friend group would be great. Caving to this type of social pressure is
conformity.
To demonstrate this pressure to conform, Solomon Asch conducted a Line Judgement experiment. He
asked participants to respond to a series of simple perceptual problems. On each problem, participants
indicated which of three comparison lines matched a standard line in length. Several other persons (usually
six to eight) were also present during the session, but, unknown to the real participant, all were assistants of
the experimenter. On certain occasions, known as critical trials (twelve out of the eighteen problems), the
accomplices offered answers that were clearly wrong: they unanimously chose the wrong line as a match for
the standard line. However, they stated their answers before the real participants responded. Thus, on these
, critical trials, the persons in Asch's study faced precisely the type of dilemma described above. Results
concluded: A large majority of the persons in Asch's research chose conformity. Across several different
studies, fully 76 percent of those tested went along with the group's false answers at least once; overall, they
voiced agreement with these false answers 37 percent of the time. In contrast, only 5 percent of the
participants in a control group, who responded to the same problem alone, made such errors.
In further studies, Asch (1951, 1956) investigated the effects of shattering the conformity by having one of
the accomplices break with the others. In one study, this person gave the correct answer, becoming an "ally"
of the real participant; in another study, he chose an answer in between the one given by the group or
and the correct one; and in a third, he chose the answer that was even more incorrect than that chosen by the
majority. In the latter two conditions, in other words, he broke from the group but still disagreed with the
real participants. Results indicated that conformity was reduced under all three conditions. However,
somewhat surprisingly, this reduction was greatest when the dissenting assistant expressed views even more
extreme (and wrong) than the majority. Together, these findings suggest that it is the unanimity of the group
that is crucial; once it is broken, no matter how, resisting group pressure becomes much easier.
In later studies, Asch repeated his basic procedure, but with one important change, instead of stating their
answers out loud, participants wrote them down on a piece of paper. Conformity dropped sharply because
there was no way for the real participants to know what the other persons were doing. This finding points to
the importance of distinguishing between public conformity and private acceptance-actually coming to feel
or think as others do.
● Public conformity- Doing or saying what others around us say or do.Often, it appears, we follow
social norms overtly but don't actually change our private views (Maas &Clark, 1984.
● Private acceptance- Actually coming to feel or think as others do. This distinction between public
conformity and private acceptance is an important one.
Factors Affecting Conformity
● Cohesiveness: It has been observed that one important factor that influences conformity is
cohesiveness, which can be defined as the degree of attraction felt by an individual toward some
group. When cohesiveness is high-when we like or admire some group of persons-pressures toward
conformity are magnified. After all, we know that one way of gaining the acceptance of such
persons is to be like them in various ways. On the other hand, when cohesiveness is low, pressures to
conform, too, are low; why should we change our behavior to be like people we don't especially like
or admire?
● Group size: A second factor that exerts important effects on the tendency to conform is the size of
the influencing group. Asch (1956) and other early researchers (Gerard, Wilhelmy, & Conolley,
1968) found that conformity increases with growth of the group size but only up to about three
members; beyond that point, it appears to level off and even decrease. However, more recent
research has failed to confirm these early findings (e.g., Bond & Smith, 1996). Instead, these later
studies found that conformity tended to increase with group size up to eight group members and
beyond. It even appears that the larger the group, the greater our tendency to go along with it, even
if this means behaving differently than we'd really prefer.
● Relevance of norms: Norms can be of two types- Descriptive norms and Injunctive norms.
Descriptive norms are ones that simply describe what most people do in a given situation. They
influence behavior by informing us about what is generally seen as effective or adaptive in that
situation. In contrast, injunctive norms specify what ought to be done, what is approved or
