WHAT DOES SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY TELL US ABOUT CONFORMITY, COMPLIANCE AND OBEDIENCE?

Conformity, Compliance and Obedience



Conformity, Compliance and Obedience

Introduction

Social influence phenomena often are divided into conformity, compliance, and obedience categories. People exhibit conformity when they change attitudes or behaviors to reflect a perceived norm. Conformity can be motivated either by a desire for accuracy, called informational influence, or a need for social approval, called normative influence. Several variables affect conformity rates. These variables include culture, age, gender, and the size of the group. Norms can be divided into injunctive norms (what society says one should do) and descriptive norms (what people actually do). Either of these norms can lead to conformity, depending on which the person attends to. Compliance refers to agreement to an explicit request. (Asch,1956) Investigators have identified several procedures that increase compliance rates. These sequential-request procedures include the foot-in-the-door technique in which agreement with a small request is followed by a larger request. Other effective procedures include the door-in-the face, low-ball, and that's-not-all technique. People exhibit obedience when they respond to a command from an authority figure. Studies find surprisingly high levels of obedience to commands. Researchers point to the studies to illustrate the often-unrecognized power of the situation to affect behavior.

Discussion

Social influence refers to the ways people alter the attitudes or behavior of others. Typically social influence results from a specific action, command, or request, but people also alter their attitudes and behaviors in response to what they perceive others might do or think. Social psychologists often divide social influence phenomena into three categories—conformity, compliance, and obedience—although the distinction between the categories is often difficult to discern. Conformity generally refers to changes in opinion or behavior to match the perceived group norm. (Eagly et al. 1986) These changes are voluntary, although the individual may not always be aware that he or she is conforming. Compliance refers to changes in behavior that are elicited by a direct request. These requests usually call upon the individual to buy a product, do a favor, or donate money or services. Obedience refers to responses to direct commands or demands from an authority figure. Although individuals are not physically coerced into these responses, they often feel as if they have little choice but to obey the command.(Asch,1956)

Conformity

People exhibit conformity when they change their attitudes or behavior to resemble what they believe most people like them would think or do. Everyday examples of conformity include selecting clothes to match what other people are wearing and recycling newspapers because it appears that most people support recycling. Psychologists have identified two primary motives to explain conformity behavior—informational influence and normative influence (Deutsch and Gerard 1955). When informational influence is operating, individuals conform because they want to be accurate. People agree with the perceived norm because they lack confidence in their own judgment and assume that the typical judgment is correct.

The first demonstration of information influence in a conformity study was reported by Muzafir Sherif (1936). This classic investigation placed male participants in a totally darkened ...