Social Influence and Conformity Quiz

Social Influence

• Conformity: Changing one's behavior to match the behavior of others, often due to social pressure.
  • Asch Experiment: Participants conformed to the incorrect answers of a group, highlighting the power of social influence.
• Obedience: Following orders from an authority figure, even if it goes against personal morals.
  • Milgram Experiment: Participants administered electric shocks to another person, highlighting the power of obedience to authority.
• Social Loafing: Reducing effort when working in a group, as individual contributions are not identifiable.
• Deindividuation: Losing self-awareness and personal responsibility in a group setting, leading to increased aggression and antisocial behavior.

Attitudes

• Definition: A relatively enduring evaluation of a person, object, or idea.
• Components:
  • Cognitive: Beliefs and knowledge about the attitude object.
  • Affective: Emotions and feelings towards the attitude object.
  • Behavioral: Tendencies to act in a certain way towards the attitude object.
• Attitude Change: Can occur through:
  • Persuasion: Changing attitudes through messages or information.
  • Cognitive Dissonance: Changing attitudes to reduce discomfort from conflicting beliefs or behaviors.

Persuasion

• Definition: The process of changing attitudes or behaviors through messages or information.
• Persuasion Principles:
  • Reciprocity: People are more likely to comply with a request if they have received a favor.
  • Commitment and Consistency: People tend to behave consistently with their commitments.
  • Social Proof: People are more likely to adopt a behavior if they see others doing it.
  • Liking: People are more likely to comply with requests from people they like.
  • Authority: People are more likely to comply with requests from authority figures.
  • Scarcity: People place a higher value on things that are scarce.

Social Influence

• Conformity is the tendency to change one's behavior to match the behavior of others, often due to social pressure.
• The Asch Experiment demonstrated the power of social influence, as participants conformed to the incorrect answers of a group.
• Obedience is the act of following orders from an authority figure, even if it goes against personal morals.
• The Milgram Experiment showed the power of obedience to authority, as participants administered electric shocks to another person.
• Social loafing occurs when individuals reduce effort when working in a group, as individual contributions are not identifiable.
• Deindividuation is the loss of self-awareness and personal responsibility in a group setting, leading to increased aggression and antisocial behavior.

Attitudes

• An attitude is a relatively enduring evaluation of a person, object, or idea.
• Attitudes have three components: cognitive (beliefs and knowledge), affective (emotions and feelings), and behavioral (tendencies to act in a certain way).
• Attitudes can change through persuasion, which involves changing attitudes through messages or information.
• Cognitive dissonance can also lead to attitude change, as individuals seek to reduce discomfort from conflicting beliefs or behaviors.

Persuasion

• Persuasion is the process of changing attitudes or behaviors through messages or information.
• Six key principles of persuasion include:
• Reciprocity: people are more likely to comply with a request if they have received a favor.
• Commitment and consistency: people tend to behave consistently with their commitments.
• Social proof: people are more likely to adopt a behavior if they see others doing it.
• Liking: people are more likely to comply with requests from people they like.
• Authority: people are more likely to comply with requests from authority figures.
• Scarcity: people place a higher value on things that are scarce.