Group Influence and Conformity I

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Group Influence and Conformity I
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Products of Group Influence

• conformity
• is it good or bad?
• real world examples?
• compliance
• acceptance

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Mechanism of Group Influence I
GROUPS
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Social Facilitation
Presence of others
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Why arousal?
Presence of others
Dominant response
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Social Loafing
Presence of others
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Why relaxation?
Presence of others
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Minimal/Interacting Group

• Task performance
• impaired
• enhanced

• Task performance
• enhanced
• impaired

SOCIAL FACILITATION
SOCIAL LOAFING
Behavior/Performance
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Deindividuation Exercise
Deindividuation
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Mechanism of Group Influence II
GROUPS
Minimal Groups
Social Facilitation
Social Loafing
Dein- dividuation
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Group Decision Making

• Consider the following scenario
• consider each option
• note the probability of success you require to
  recommend the riskier alternative

• A college senior graduating in May has to decide
  between two graduate programs in chemistry. The
  first program has an excellent reputation.
  However, because of its high academic standards,
  only a fraction of entering graduate students
  obtain a Ph.D. Almost all graduate students in
  the other universitys program complete their
  Ph.D.s due to lower academic standards. It has
  a much weaker academic reputation.

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Process of Group Polarization

• Horse racing bets

Discussion
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Group Polarization

Discussion
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Why do Groups Influence us?

• the desire to be...
• social influence
• when
• the desire to be ..
• produces
• social influence

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Groupthink
Concurrence seeking tendencies
Group Characteristics
Groupthink
Results of Groupthink
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Social Influence

• Minority Influence

Group Influence
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Classic Studies II

• group pressure
• alone correct 99 of time
• group 37 conforming responses
• group 25 did not conform at all

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Classic Studies III Milgram

• Obedience conformity in response to an
  explicit command /power
• not surprising in response to a powerful
  superior
• more surprising - obedience to those who lack
  real power
• why does this occur?
• lack of personal responsibility
• visibility of status
• gradual escalation
• or fast escalation with no reflection
• socialization / culture
• to resist pressures to conform
• clarify responsibility
• determine a threshold of reasonableness
• question expertise/motives of authority figures
• understanding authority/effects of blind
  obedience

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Factors that influence conformity

• social roles
• social norms
• status
• cohesiveness
• unanimity
• required response
• prior commitments