Different Forms of Social Influence - Essay Example

Different Forms of Social Influence Teacher’s ID Social influence is one of the major factors that have a tendency ofaltering and persuading human behaviour to act in a certain manner. Individuals present in groups are influenced by group dynamics and personality traits of other members especially group leaders however, degree of these behavioural responses to group dynamics is dependent on type of social influence and its intensity along with individual’s personality. The mannerism in which individuals affect each other’s behaviour has been studied extensively by social psychologists with emphasis on individual’s behaviour instead of organization and structure of groups. Social psychology works on a premise that our actions and behaviours are influenced by others. Furthermore, our will to be liked by others and fit into society also leads to allegiance to social dynamics of groups and community in which we are operating. In some circumstances, we might hide our own opinions in order to gain approval of others. All these circumstantial responses refer to strength of social influence. While exploring these behavioural responses, various forms of social influences have been identified that may include conformity, obedience and compliance. There is an extensive body of literature that supports these phenomena and their effectiveness in inducing desired behaviour in group members. Conformity stands for the phenomenon in which one alters their behaviour with reference to the group norms although there are no explicit instructions to do so (Cialdini, 2007, p. 54). The underlying factors behind conformity can be one’s desire to be accurate and have acceptance of others; since people do not want to be judged and declared as being wrong, therefore the ideal option available is to base one’s own judgement over others and present themselves in an acceptable form (Kassin, Fein and Markus, 2011). Such phenomenon is usually common in the instances where peer pressure along with work, team and community influences is strong enough to alter individual opinions. Conformity has been studied extensively by sociologists and psychologists in order to corroborate scientific evidences with social findings. One of the most eminent experiments in this regard is Asch experiment. In this experiment, participants were made to view three lines in which two were of similar lengths and were asked to identify two same lines (Cherry, 2013). All the controlled participants were made to give the wrong answers as they were informed to do so prior to the experiment; therefore findings of the experiment indicated that test subjects always selected answers that conformed to the opinions of the group. It was also found that with increase in group size, the level of conformity also increases and stronger social influences have a higher tendency of altering one’s personal opinion. Also, levels of conformity are higher when situations are ambiguous or participants in the group feel insecure and incompetent (Cherry, 2013). Another important factor contributing to conformity is the admiration individuals have for their groups and existence of collectivistic cultures which encourage compliance to group standards (Cialdini, 2007). Another form of social influence is compliance which stands for doing something that someone else who is not in charge or authority is doing and this may take place due to request or direction of the team member. While showing compliance, one may go along with the group while having different opinions (Cialdini, 2007, pp. 75- 82). There are several techniques used to perform compliance as shown by several experiments i.e. The Stanford prison experiment. In this prison experiment, participants were made to act as prisoners and guards and exhibit expected behaviour however the experiment was terminated six days later as during experiment, guards began to demonstrate abusive behaviour and prisoners demonstrated anxious behaviour (Cialdini and Trost, 1998, p. 158). It was found that people show compliance to expectations inherent to social roles. The techniques identified during this experiment to show compliance include door-in-the face, foot-in-the-door, lowball, ingratiation and reciprocity (Cialdini and Trost, 1998, pp. 160- 162). Door-in-the-face allows marketers to involve consumers by making smaller requests when bigger requests are declined. On the other hand, foot-in-the-door is a technique that allows marketers to indulge consumers by making small commitments (Cialdini, 2007). That’s-not-all is a kind of a marketing commitment which aims at increasing appeal of the offer whereas low-call technique allows marketers to raise the terms and conditions of commitment after customer has already committed. Ingratiation refers to getting approval of the targets in order to make them comply. On the other hand, reciprocity takes place when people comply in order to reciprocate something that is done for them (Cialdini, 2007). Factors contributing to compliance include expectation that people share something with individuals making requests of compliance, importance of group affiliation, presence of group opinions and immediate presence of group members. Third form of social influence is obedience which involves acting under direct authority of others. The difference between compliance, conformity and obedience is presence of free will, higher status and social power (Weiten, 2010). It is also important to note that obedience takes place when the obeying person accepts the legitimacy of other’s person’s authority over them whereas this legitimacy may take place due to organizational status or personality traits. One of the most eminent experiments that proved the phenomenon of obedience is Stanley Milgram experiment (Weiten, 2010). The experiment involved a subject that was given electric shock when another person gave wrong answers to a question; with higher frequency of wrong answers, the intensity of shocks was also increased. The procedure was accompanied with positive as well as harsh feedback from experimenter which ultimately forced test subjects to alter their behaviour. Obedience is a common response of individuals in group settings especially in the cases where there is a legitimate authority present (Weiten, 2010). In addition to these basic forms of social influence, there are various principles that are used by group leaders in order to acquire social support which are known as Cialdini’s six principles of influence which includes reciprocity, commitment, social proof, liking, authority and scarcity (Cialdini, 2007). Where reciprocity and commitment have been discussed above, social proof refers to individual’s sense of security driven by safety in numbers i.e. if greater number of people are doing it, it is safe. On the other hand, liking and authority principles indicate that we follow people that we like and feel obligated to, respectively. Lastly, scarcity refers to social response to limited availability of things (Cialdini, 2007). Psychologists have extensively studied these three forms of social influence with the help of various qualitative and experimental studies with reference to varied social situations (Cialdini, 2007). In this regard, factors like lifestyle, community forces, age, peer pressure etc, have been correlated with effectiveness of social influence over behaviour of different demographic segments (Kassin, Fein and Markus, 2011). There are various studies concerning extreme behaviours like alcoholism, substance abuse, violence and eating disorders etc along with influence of social settings, key figures and group think and the outcomes of these studies have been used to identify major causes behind disturbed behaviour and use these phenomena in various interventions in order to yield desired behaviours in the given demographic segments (Weiten, 2010). Social influence refers to a powerful phenomenon that may affect cumulative and individual behaviour. Different forms of social influence define how people react in the presence and absence of direct authority. Conformity and compliance indicates that people show adherence to group dynamics in order to be liked and fit in however such adherence takes place in the absence of any authority. On the other hand, obedience indicates loyalty or commitment to perceived or real legitimate authority. In addition to these social responses, there are various principles that can be used to develop desired form of social behaviour. Understanding of social influence can be used in organizational, community-based and other settings for inducing appropriate behaviour in group members. References Cialdini, R.B., 2007. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. New York: Harper Collins. Cialdini, R. B., and Trost. M. R.,1998. Social influence: Social norms, conformity, and compliance. In: D. T. Gilbert, S. T. Fiske, and G. Lindzey, eds. 1998. The handbook of social psychology. 4th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill. Cherry, K., 2013. What is Compliance?. [online] Available at: http://psychology.about.com/od/socialinfluence/a/compliance.htm [Accessed 13 March 2014]. Kassin, S.M., Fein, S., and Markus, H.R., 2011. Social Psychology. Cengage Learning. Weiten, W., 2010. Psychology: Themes and Variations. CA: Wadsworth. Read More