LECTURE 7 Conformity

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LECTURE 7 Conformity

• Administration
• Chameleon Effect
• Sherifs Autokinetic Effect Study
• Asches Conformity Studies
• Milgrams Obedience Studies
• Zimbardos Stanford Prison Study
• Break
• Video on Conformity
• Resisting Conformity
• Next Class

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Questions?
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Conformity

• Definition A change in behaviour or beliefs due
  to the real or imagined influence of other
  people.
• Social Norms the implicit or explicit rules a
  group has for the acceptable behaviours, values,
  and beliefs of its members

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Chameleon Effect

• Definition The nonconscious mimicry of the
  postures, mannerisms, and facial expressions of
  ones interaction partner
• Theorize that the mere perception of anothers
  behaviour can automatically increase the
  likelihood of engaging in that behaviour oneself.

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Chameleon Effect

• Chartrand and Bargh (1999)

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Informational Social Influence

• Conforming because we believe that others
  interpretation of an ambiguous situation is more
  correct than ours and will help us choose an
  appropriate course of action.
• Acceptance Conformity that involves both acting
  and believing in accord with social pressure.
• We conform because we think this is the right
  way to act in this situation.

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Autokinetic Study (Sherif, 1936)
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Autokinetic Study (Sherif, 1936)
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When do we conform to informational social
influence?

• When the situation is ambiguous
• Fire alarms
• When there is a crisis
• When others are experts

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Normative Social Influence

• Conforming in order to be liked and accepted or
  to fulfil others expectations this type of
  conformity results in public compliance (but not
  necessarily private acceptance) of the groups
  beliefs and behaviours
• Public Compliance Conformity that involves
  publicly acting in accord with social pressure
  while privately disagreeing

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Social Pressure Study (Asch, 1951)
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Social Pressure Study (Asch, 1951)
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Compliance

• Definition a change in behaviour due to a direct
  request from another person.
• Obedience conformity in response to the commands
  of an authority figure

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Milgrams (1963) Obedience Study

• Teachers believe they are delivering shocks to
  a learner (appear to be randomly assigned to
  the roles).
• Every time the learner gets an answer wrong, he
  gets a shock that increases in intensity.
• Strongly encouraged by the experimenter to
  continue, even when the learner protests.

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Milgrams Obedience Study

• Normative social influence It is absolutely
  essential that you continue (I did commit to
  doing this studywhat will he think of me if I
  mess up his study now?)
• Informational social influence
  ambiguity/novelty of the situation when unsure,
  we look to the expert (the experimenter)

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Milgrams (1963) Obedience Study
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Obedience Across Studies
Percentage fully obedient

Experimental Version
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Milgrams Obedience Study

• Explanations for why they obeyed
• In automatic pilot to the obey experimenter
  norm - mindlessness
• Fast-pace doesnt allow for much thought
• Increased in small increments (like
  foot-in-the-door).

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Stanford Prison StudyZimbardo (1971)

• Personality versus Situation
• - Results of the Milgram Study
• - Goals of the Stanford Prison Study
• Whether the situation defined guards and
  prisoners brutality and behaviours or whether it
  was related to the personality of people who took
  on those roles?
• Role
• A set of norms that define how people in a given
  social position ought to behave.

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Stanford Prison StudyZimbardo (1971)

• Zimbardo randomly assigned university students to
  role-play being either guards or prisoners.
• Guards were given uniforms, whistles, and clubs
  and were told to enforce the rules.
• Prisoners were given uniforms and locked in
  cells.
• Although this study was originally planned for 2
  weeks after only 6 days they had to stop the
  study because of the hostility of the prison
  guards and the mental and physical deterioration
  of the prisoners.

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Resisting Social Pressure

• Reactance (Brehm Brehm, 1981)
• An attempt to restore ones sense of freedom.
• Correction Theory (Wegener Petty, 1997)
• We correct for
• Direction of perceived influence
• Extent of perceived influence
• To Correct we need
• Motivation and Ability

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Training and Correction StudyKawakami, Dovidio,
van Kamp (2002)

• Male and Female Stereotypes
• Women
• Friendly
• Submissive
• Dependent
• Caring
• Men
• Dominant
• Independent
• Ambitious
• Competitive

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NEW ASSOCIATION TRAINING
PHOTO
TRAIT
FEMALE STEREO
FEMALE PHOTO
MALE STEREO
FEMALE STEREO
MALE PHOTO
MALE STEREO
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• General Procedure
• Nonstereotype Association Training
• Job Ad, CVs, and Cover Letters
• - 2 men and 2 women only identified by name
• Choose Best Candidate

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• Conditions
• Just Training Possible Correction Processes
• Nonstereotype Association Training
• Job Ad, CVs, and Cover Letters
• Choose Best Candidate
• Training Filler Task Reduce Motivation No
  Correction
• Nonstereotype Association Training
• 10 Minute Break
• Job Ad, CVs, and Cover Letters
• Choose Best Candidate
• Training Probe Task Reduce Ability No
  Correction
• Nonstereotype Association Training
• Job Ad , CVs, and Cover Letters Probe Reaction
  Task
• Choose Best Candidate Probe Reaction Task

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Percentage of Candidates Chosen
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Questions?
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Next Class

• Class 8 Monday, June 4th
• Altruism and Aggression
• Reading material
• Chapter 9 Altruism Helping Others
• pp. 277-314.
• Chapter 10 Aggression Hurting Others
• pp. 315-352.
• Lecture Slides for Class 7 and Class 8 will
  be posted later today.