What Is Conformity, Compliance And Obedience?

People interact with other humans every day, whether it be in a group or individual setting. When people interact with others, it can be a good or bad experience. While at work, school, or even home, people are in constant contact with each other in some form. When we are children, our friends and family influence us. As we age, our peers continue to influence us. Social influence is studying how people are affected by interacting with each other and is an interesting part of what makes us unique (Matlin, 2013). In order to understand social influence, it needs to be looked at in three main categories: conformity, compliance, and obedience. Conformity, compliance, and obedience are important factors to understanding social influence. Conformity

It is publically agreeing with social pressures but not necessarily agreeing on the inside. People are not ordered to do something when they comply; there is only a request to do something (Doorn, Kleef, & Pligt, 2015). For example, employees may comply with a dress code at work even though deep down they believe they should be able to wear what they want. Another example would be adhering to the building policy of not smoking inside. Smokers may not like this but they do it anyway because they want to be compliant with society. Compliance is also connected to obedience. When someone complies with what society has asked them to do, they are being obedient. Any deviance away from what is considered socially acceptable is considered being non-compliant (Matlin, 2013). People in many types of situations use compliance to get what they want. Marketers, or people who try to get others to buy their products, are ones who might use it. There are several techniques used by marketers to get people to comply. One technique is the door-in-the-face technique. In this technique, marketers start by asking customers for a large commitment or request. When the customer refuses, the marketers then make a more reasonable request (Matlin, 2013). For example, a company will ask a customer to make a large or pricy purchase, like wanting him to buy a one-hundred-dollar frying pan. When the customer refuses, the marketer will then

There have been numerous experiments trying to understand obedience. One famous study is Milgram’s obedience study; it shows what happens when people feel pressured by authority figures. In this study, Milgram asked participants to make other participants, who were actually part of the study, answer questions and then administer shocks for each incorrect answer, increasing the severity of the shock for each incorrect answer. Most of the participants felt uneasy when pressured to continue after the participants on the other side pleaded for the experiment to stop. A few, though not many, actually went all the way to the end of the experiment and administered the maximum amount of shock for incorrect answers. This studies the effects of authority figures and a person’s willingness to be obedient. Most people felt that it was morally wrong to continue even though they were being pressured by someone in authority to continue (Jetten, & Mols, 2014). Another famous experiment about obedience was the Stanford Prison Experiment. Conducted from August 14 to August 20, 1971, this experiment studied the psychological effects of being in a prison setting; participants were randomly selected to be either a prisoner or prison guard. The experiment was supposed to last for two weeks but ended after only six days. To the researcher’s surprise, the guards, who were just regular college students randomly