Compliance



Compliance

Introduction

Compliance can be defined as a response which is made is reaction to a request submitted. It can also be specifically called a submission made in response to a request. The request submitted can be implicit, as well as, explicit. The target may or may not be aware that he is being targeted in the request. Social psychology is based on the idea of social influence. Social psychology can be defined as the effect that the actions, the words or even the presence of other people can have on our attitudes, feelings, behaviors, thoughts and perceptions. The driving force behind compliance is social influence. The importance and the impact of social influence need to be studied by the psychologists (Baumeister & Vohs, 2007). The social influence of such behaviors and actions tend to go beyond the behavior and tend to go deeper into one's thoughts, beliefs and feelings. It also needs to be recognized that the social influence can also take many forms. The gaining of compliance and persuasion can be called as particularly important types of social influences because of the fact that they tend to utilize the power of the effect to try to attain the submission of others.

Discussion

Study of compliance is important because it tends to influence our social and day to day behavior. It also tends to affect our social interactions. Compliance is a complicated topic and it needs to be studied in depth which can be helpful in the understanding of its theoretical, practical implications, as well as, approaches.

Compliance as a means of fulfilling needs

The goals of social influence can be maintained and pursued by complying with the requests of the actions that others take. This can be divided into two heads.

Normative social influence

Informative social influence (Baumeister & Bushman, 2008)

Normative social influence (goal of affiliation)

The normative social influence can also be called goal of affiliation. The need of belongingness is one of the fundamental needs of human beings. This is the need which helps them in maintaining a meaningful relationship with the people and also provides an opportunity for the social approval of the human being. This is also the need which helps in the motivation of people to engage them in a behavior which will help them induce the approval of their partners, colleagues, and peers. The people are encouraged and are also most likely to take actions which help them in cultivating relationships between them and the other people around them. They also work to make the relationships stronger with the people who they find close to them or want to gain the approval of the people (Baumeister & Bushman, 2008). The individuals tend to comply with the norms of social exchange which will help them in adhering to normative social influence and also help them in gaining approval.

Informative Social Influence

Informative social influence is also called the goal of accuracy. The people under this social influence tend to be motivated to achieve the goals and desires in the most accurate ...