Download Conformity and obedience

CONFORMITY
Psychology
During this session
◦ Identify the differences between minority and majority influences
◦ Discuss some of the research conducted in relation to conformity
◦ Highlight key terms used
Classic Studies of Social influence
◦ Social influence studies are some of the most well-known in social
psychology.
a)Because they capture the essence of what social psychology
is.
b)Because they provide some of the most interesting, powerful
and challenging findings in the field.
c) Because they seem particularly (and alarmingly) relevant to
our everyday lives.
d)Because as a result of the above they demand some
satisfactory theoretical analysis (explanation).
Majority and minority influence
◦ Majority influence: a form of social influence where people
adopt the behaviours, attitudes and values of other members of
a reference group
◦ Minority influence: a form of social influence where a persuasive
minority exerts pressure to change the attitudes, beliefs or
behaviours of the majority.
The difference between Majority and
Minority
◦ Moscovivi (1980( states that majorities and minorities achieve influence through
different processes.
◦ Majority involves public compliance, they are more concerned with how they appear
in front of others than the issue itself.
◦ Minorities are aiming for conversion rather than compliance. They hope that by
focusing on the issue the majority will take notice. This in turn may start the process of
conversion.
Why do people yield to minority
influence?
◦ There are many explanations a few of which are:
◦ Consistency – There are 2 types of consistency
◦ Intra-individual – where a person maintains a consistent position over time
◦ Inter-individual- where there is agreement among members of the minority
group
The Snowball effect
◦ Van Avarmaet (1996)
◦ The term is used to describe what can happen in a minority influence
◦ Once a few members of the majority start to move towards the minority the influence
begins to gather momentum
Group Membership
◦ Hogg and Vaughan (1998) say that we are most likely to be influenced by people we
identify to be like us ( our in-group)
◦ An example of this could be the attitude of straight men towards gay men
◦ The attitudes of straight men towards gay men mecome more liberal if other straight
men (the in group) express liberal attitudes
Individual activity
◦ Give 2 reasons why people conform
◦ Why do people yield to minority influence
◦ What do you understand by the terms Social influence, conformity and minority
influence?
Asch (195) Example
◦ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyDDyT1lDhA
Moscovici (1969)
◦ Are these studies minority or majority?
Group activity
◦ Name one thing you have learned within the session
◦ The catch is that you have only 10 seconds to do it
◦ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHU80BsabxQ
Why did you do that?
◦ Why did you take part in that activity?
◦ What was wrong with it?
◦ How did it make you feel?
This is due to:
Overview
◦ Continuation from last week:
◦ Next week: Obedience !