1. Social Influence

2. Outline Conformity Obedience to authority

3. What is Social Influence? Social Influence - The many ways that people impact one another, including changes in attitudes, beliefs, feelings, and behavior, that result from the comments, actions, or even the mere presence of others

4. What is Social Influence? Conformity - changing one’s behavior in response to real or imagined pressure from others Compliance - responding favorably to an explicit request by another person Obedience - social influence in which the less powerful person in an unequal power relationship submits to the demands of the more powerful person

5. Why we Conform 1. Automatic Mimicry and the Chameleon Effect chameleon effect - the nonconscious mimicry of the expressions, mannerisms, movements, and other behaviors of those with whom one is interacting

7. Automatic Mimicry is Behind Social Contagion o Emotional contagion: laughter, anger, depression o Behavioural contagion: the case of suicide o Mass psychogenic illness: the case of the Tennessee high school o Mirror neurons: synchrony is necessary in social animals

8. Conformity 2. Informational Social Influence the influence of other people that results from taking their comments or actions as a source of information as to what is correct or proper “when in Rome, do as the Romans do” Sherif’s Conformity Experiment with the autokinetic illusion

10. Conformity 3. Normative Social Influence the influence of other people that comes from the desire to avoid their disapproval Asch’s Conformity Experiment

12. Conformity 4. Factors Affecting Conformity Pressures

13. Obedience to Authority Milgram experiments, designed to explore mass atrocities, for ex the Holocaust in Nazi Germany Why would ordinary people participate? The experiments: learner (confederate) and teacher (the real participant) The procedure Stressful situation Surprisingly high number of ppts go all the way

14. Obedience to Authority: Milgram, 1963 F 15.7

15. Obedience To Authority Opposing Forces a. Obeying a “legitimate” authority b. Stopping suffering of the learner Would You Have Obeyed? Fundamental attribution error: people mistakenly think that the participants in this experiment are “sadistic” a. They Tried But Failed b. Release From Responsibility c. Step-by-Step Involvement

18. Obedience to Authority Factors that increase obedience