Chapter 7

Conformity, Compliance and Obedience

Conformity

• Tendency to change perceptions, opinions, or behavior in ways that are consistent with group norms.

• Do humans imitate one another automatically, without thought, effort, or conflict?

The Early Classics

• Sherif’s study (1936)

• Asch’s study (1951)

What Did Asch’s Participants Do?

• Participants went along with the clearly incorrect majority 37% of the time.

• However, 25% of the participants NEVER conformed.

• Still, 50% conformed for at least half of the critical presentations.– The rest conformed on an occasional basis.

Why Do People Conform?

• Informational Influence: People conform because they believe others are correct in their judgments.

• Normative Influence: People conform because they fear the consequences of appearing deviant.

Types of Conformity

• Private Conformity: Changes in both overt behavior and beliefs.

• Public Conformity: Superficial change in overt behavior only.

Majority Influence: Group Size

• Conformity increases with group size -- but only up to a point (5).

• Why?– Law of “diminishing returns”?– Perception that others are either in “collusion” or

“spineless sheep”?

Majority Influence: Having an Ally in Dissent (influence of the minority).

• When there was an ally in Asch’s study, conformity dropped by almost 80%.

• Why does having an ally reduce majority influence on our behavior?– Substantially more difficult to stand alone for

one’s convictions than when one is part of even a tiny minority.

– Any dissent can reduce the normative pressures to conform.

Culture and Conformity

• Cultures differ in the extent to which people adhere to social norms.

• What determines whether a culture becomes individualistic or collectivistic?– The complexity of the society– The affluence of the society– The heterogeneity of the society

Compliance

• Changes in behavior that are elicited by direct requests.

Mindlessness and Compliance

• Talking fast and catching people off guard can improve compliance rates.

• People can be disarmed by the simple phrasing of the request.– How you ask for something can be more important

than what you ask for.– Langer: We often respond mindlessly to words

without fully processing the information they are supposed to convey.

• Mindlessness can make us more vulnerable to compliance, but can also have opposite effect

Norm of Reciprocity

• The powerful norm of reciprocity dictates that we treat others as they have treated us.– This norm leads us to feel obligated to repay for

acts of kindness, even when unsolicited.

• Norm of reciprocity is relatively short-lived.

Sequential Request Strategies

Assertiveness: When People Say No

• To be able to resist the trap of compliance techniques, one must:– Be vigilant– Not feel indebted by the norm of reciprocity

• Compliance techniques work smoothly only if they are hidden from view.

Obedience

• Behavior change produced by the commands of authority

Milgram’s Research: Forces of Destructive Obedience

• Conducted his experiments during the time that Adolph Eichmann was being tried for Nazi war crimes.

• His unorthodox methods have been the subject of much ethical debate.

Factors that Influence Obedience