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Topic 6
Social Influence
What is Social Influence?
• Social influence is the area of social psychology
that explores how people are affected by the real
or imagined pressure of other individuals or a
group.
o The influence may be intentional or unintentional.
• Efforts by one or more individuals to change the
attitudes, beliefs, perceptions, or behaviors of one
or more others.
Power and influence
• Power is the capacity to influence others while
resisting their attempts to influence.
• Sources of power:
1. Reward power.
2. Coercive power.
3. Informational power.
4. Expert power.
5. Legitimate power.
6. Referent power.
Sources of power
Reward
power
The ability to give or promise rewards for compliance.
Coercive
power
The ability to give or threaten punishment for non-compliance.
Informational
power
The target’s belief that the influencer has more information
than oneself.
Expert power
The target’s belief that the influencer has generally greater
expertise and knowledge than oneself.
Legitimate
power
The target’s belief that the influencer is authorized by a
recognized power structure to command and make decisions.
Referent
power
Identification with, attraction to or respect for the source of
influence.
Social Influence
• Basically, social influence is the “process of
inducing change in people”, through the
following process:o Conformity
o Compliance
o Obedience
What is Conformity?
• Conformity can be defined as the tendency for
people to yield to real or imagined social pressure.
• It is a change in a person's behavior or opinions as a
result of real or imagined pressure form a person or
a group of people.
• Conformity occurs when a person changes his/her
attitude or behavior on his/her own to fulfill social
norms, or out of a desire to follow the beliefs or
standard of others.
Factors that can influence conformity
• Group size and group unanimity  When
there is group cohesiveness and commitment
among members, the chances of conformity
is higher.
• Type of person For example personality,
gender, self esteem, male/females oriented
tasks or social status can influence conformity.
• When people are in ambiguous situations • When people have reason to doubt their own
judgments - feelings of insecurity in the decision
• When people tend to follow the lead of a highstatus individual - to avoid punishment
• Rewards and punishments
Why do we conform?
• Two basic sources of influence:
o Normative social influence:
• Need to be liked, accepted by others
o Informational social influence:
• Need to be correct; to behave in accordance
with reality
When do we not conform?
• Self-aware people (private vs. public) - When people
are privately self-aware they are less likely to conform;
• Self-presentation if one is trying to present himself as
intelligent, he will be perceived as more intelligent if he
does not conform
• The need for individuation, that is the desire to maintain
one’s uniqueness or the desire for personal control.
• Behavior that shows that you are exactly like others is
avoided.
• Behavior that greatly restricts your personal freedom.
What is Compliance?
• Compliance is a type of conformity that occurs when
people yield to social pressure in their public behavior,
even though their private beliefs have not changed.
• Compliance is a special kind of conformity that gets
behavior change without changing your attitude  a
behavior that is motivated by a desire to gain a reward or
avoid punishment.
• A person changes his/her attitude or behavior in response
to another's direct request.
• Simply asking someone to perform a task is a request for
compliance.
What is Obedience?
•
Obedience is as a form of compliance
when people follow direct commands,
usually from someone with authority
(teachers, parents, leaders, boss)
o an act of compliance or following
orders without question because they
come from a legitimate authority.