Term Paper: Social Influence During the course of one’s lifespan we learn, develop and grow. Within our life’s we will learn to understand that in reality we are influenced, demanded and obeying rules. Social psychology believes that social influence has a strong sway on influences of one’s lifestyle. Inside the field of psychology, Social psychology includes a large field of knowledge around social influence.The following topic in social psychology looks at how individual thoughts, actions and feelings are influenced by social groups. Throughout the following essay, I will be discussing in my opinion one of the most interesting topic related to social psychology: social influence and its three relations to normative social influence, informative …show more content…
Unlike other species, humans are distinct in the sense of being able to think and feel. Therefore, this is where an important aspect of psychology helps us understand and perceive the understandings of human nature and why we think and feel. “Social psychology, is a scientific study of how individuals think, feel and behave in a social context,” (Kassin, S., Fein, S., & Markus, H. R.,2008, p.). Secondly, we try to aim at whether or not ones influences are aimed at society, environment or peers influences there state of thought. Social influence occurs when ones emotions, opinions or behaviors are affected by others. “Social influences refer to the idea that interaction with others could lead to a change in our attitudes, beliefs, values and behaviors,” (Schneider, Gruman & Coutts, 2005, p. 184). Throughout the following topic of social influence, have learned through a number of different theories and studies such as Milgram’s Study. The following study aimed at targeting how far they would go in obeying an instruction if it involved harming another …show more content…
The following study is closely related to Milgram’s Experiments and the Stanford Prison. The subsequent experiments tried to show how perfectly normal human beings can be pressured into unusual behaviors by authority. In decision, the study concluded with two reasons, one would be to fit in with the group which would be normative influence. Furthermore, because they believe the group is better informed than they are (informational influence). Asch Study turned out to go on to help explain why people respond and are influenced despite knowing they are wrong. The following experiment was successful in the sense of providing ones influence on wanting to
Obedience to authority and willingness to obey an authority against one’s morals has been a topic of debate for decades. Stanley Milgrim, a Yale psychologist, conducted a study in which his subjects were commanded by a person in authority to initiate lethal shocks to a learner; his experiment is discussed in detail in the article “The Perils of Obedience” (Milgrim 77). Milgrim’s studies are said to be the most “influential and controversial studies of modern psychology” (Levine).While the leaner did not actually receive fatal shocks, an actor pretended to be in extreme pain, and 60 percent of the subjects were fully obedient, despite evidence displaying they believed what they were doing was harming another human being (Milgrim 80). Likewise, in Dr. Zimbardo, a professor of psychology at Stanford University, conducted an experiment, explained in his article “The Stanford Prison Experiment,” in which ten guards were required to keep the prisoners from
We live in a society where each individual has their own set of thoughts and beliefs. Occasionally one will modify their beliefs and behavior to coincide with a group. This is an example of social influence. Social influence has three main components; conformity, compliance and obedience. The concept of compliance is similar to conformity, however there is a slight difference. Compliance only requires a person to perform a task. The person does not have to agree or disagree with the assignment, just simply complete it. Conformity requires the person being influenced to change their attitudes and or beliefs. An example of this aspect of social psychology is the holocaust in World War II. Adolph Eichmann was a Nazi officer responsible for filling up death camps in Germany. After the war he went on trial in Jerusalem for crimes against the Jewish people, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. On May 31, 1962, he was sentenced to death for the horrible crimes he committed. His defense was "Why me? Why not the local policemen, thousands of them? They would have been shot if they had refused to round up the Jews for the death camps. Why not hang them for not wanting to be shot? Why me? Everybody killed the Jews". A few months after the start of Eichmann’s trial, Stanley Milgram instituted an experiment testing ones obedience to authority. He wanted to find out if good people could do atrocious things if they were just obeying authority. Was Eichmann and millions of others in Nazi Germany decent people who were just following orders? Some other famous experiments that have taken place to test the waters of social psychology are Philip Zimbardo’s Stanford prison experiment and Solomon Asch’s conformity experiments, all ...
In 1961, Stanley Milgram, a Yale University Psychologist conducted a variety of social psychology experiments on obedience to authority figures. His experiments involved three individuals, one of them was a volunteer who played the role of the teacher, one was an actor who played the role of the student, and one was the experimenter who played the role of the authority. The teacher was instructed by the authority to administrate shocks to the student (who claimed to have a heart condition) whenever they answered a question incorrectly. The voltage of the shock would go up after every wrong answer. The experimenter would then instruct the teacher to administrate higher voltages even though pain was being imposed. The teacher would then have to make a choice between his morals and values or the choice of the authority figure. The point of the experiment was to try to comprehend just how far an individual would continue when being ordered by an individual in a trench coat to electrically shock another human being for getting questions incorrect. The experiment consisted of administrating pain to different people and proved that ordinary people will obey people with authority. Some of the various reasons are that the experimenter was wearing a trench coat, fear of the consequences for not cooperating, the experiments were conducted in Yale University a place of prestige, and the authority f...
Social psychology is a scientific study that studies how people think, feel, and how they behave under the influence of other people (Aronson, Wilson & Akert, 2013, p. 2). Thinking about what social influence really means, we tend to think of a person who tries to persuade another person to acting a certain way. It can be a form of peer pressure, like taking that first puff of a cigarette, or it can be conforming to popular societal views, such as obeying the law of the land. Fiction is a great way to learn about social psychological perspectives. Watching popular theatrical films is the perfect way to learn because it illustrates the application of many perceptions within the subject of social psychology.
There are many things that influence our behavior from internal influences to social norms. Social norms are implicit or explicit rules that govern how we behave in society (Maluso, class notes). Social norms influence our behavior more than any of us realize but we all notice when a norm has been broken. Breaking a social norm is not an easy task and often leads us feeling uncomfortable whether we broke the norm ourselves or witnessed someone else breaking it. Sometimes however, you just have to break a norm to see what happens.
In order to understand the phenomena of obedience and disobedience, it is essential to understand the causes of these behaviors. The first and most common cause of both obedience and disobedience is authority. Countless examples demonstrate the significant impact of authority on a person’s behavior. The Milgram Experiment, conducted in 1963 by a Yale psychologist, was a prime illustration of how authority can greatly influence the actions of an individual. In the Milgram Experiment, there were two volunteers who were assigned the roles of either the “teacher” or the “learner.” The teacher would ask the learner a series of questions and if the learner answered a question incorrectly, the teacher issued an electric shock to the learner, increasing
Social influence refers to the influence that others have on the opinions, emotions and behaviors of others. Social influence is a dual motive scheme of informational influence and normative influence. Informational influence occurs when the information obtained through others is used as evidence about reality and normative influence involves conforming to the positive expectations of others. Social influence in public settings is believed to be influenced by the presence of a social audience and their surveillance over responses. However, social influence also occurs in private settings which could suggest a social motive to accommodate others indicating that social impact emerges regardless whether the presence is actual, imagined, or implied (Wood, 2000). An imagined or implied social influence may occur as a result of trolling comments. The negative consensus apparent in trolling comments may deter positive perceptions of the content. The informational influence, describes a form of influence that obtains information through others as evidence about reality. Comments reflecting negatively on a persuasive message may influence how the reader perceives the information at hand. The trolling comments may be perceived as evidence about the persuasive content, and interfere with the persuasive
This essay concerns social influence in general. Aspects of social influence as such as majority influence and minority influence will be discussed in terms of their underlying psychological processes and how they differ. Majority influence or conformity refers to the desire to belong or to fit in within a particular group which involves adopting certain attributes, behaviour and attitudes of a particular group. As a result individuals consequently experience group pressure (in Baron, Branscombe & Byrne 2008). Minority influence on the other hand, refers to the influence that the minority exert over the majority in that the majority come to accept the beliefs and behaviours of a minority (in Baron et al. 2008).
According to the text , Social Psychology, “social psychology is the scientific study of how people think about, influence, and relate to one another”(pg. 4) this is viewed in a variety of social topics incorporating group behaviors, attitudes, conformity, obedience to authority, stereotypes and peer pressure. Outside factors can have a positive or negative affect our view of ourselves and each other. These outside factors are used to persuade and influence group behavior. Persuasion is defined as “the process by which a message induces change in beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors” (Myers, 2010, pg. 230). The principles of this process of persuasion according to researchers, Robert Cialdini and Thomas Davidson, are attractiveness and likeability, reciprocity, social proof, consistency, authority, and scarcity (Davidson, 2008)(Myers, 2010, pg. 237). These principles of persuasion impact our self-perception, our attitudes and behaviors, and our culture.
The Findings from Social Influence Research Forty male volunteers from a self selected sample took part in a controlled observational study, which they were deceived into thinking was a test of learning. The naïve participant was always assigned the role of 'teacher' and a confederate played the role of 'learner'. A word association test was the learning task, and the naïve participant was instructed to deliver an electric shock to the learner for each incorrect answer. The teacher and the learner were in separate rooms with no voice contact. The learner sitting in another room gave mainly wrong answers and received his fake shocks in silence until they reached 300 volts.
Cialdini, R. B., & Goldstein, N. J. (2004). SOCIAL INFLUENCE: Compliance and conformity. Annual Review of Psychology, 55, 591-621. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/205845016?accountid=458
Social influence is one person’s (or group’s) influence on another. The Holocaust is an "extreme form of physical destruction and can be considered the ultimate degree of social influence ." Groups are defined as two or more participants. Groups can be powerful forces shaping our feelings, judgments and behaviors (Baron, Kerr, & Miller, 1992). Cohesion of a group effects the group functioning by...
Groups influence our everyday lives in ways that we don’t even realize. Most of what is learned from groups are societal norms that are being reinforced on a micro level in everyday life. Group influence on individuals is a clear tangible proof of societal norms by institutions. The groups we become a part of therefore can have a greater influence on our individual actions then we are aware of. As an individual we like to believe we have agency over our actions and what we decide but a lot of our own actions is more a part of a group mentality. Also, individual’s go along with a group’s influence so they feel better about themselves because then they won’t be ostracized. This paper will analyze different aspects of individual behavior and
Psychology is a social science study that covers diverse subject topics and carries out different forms of research in order to understand the development and function of human beings. A scientific study focuses on people's mind and its functions especially those affecting behavior in a particular context. Psychology is divided into different branches, and each branch addresses its own form of content in relation to mental processes and behavior. Social psychology is one of the psychology branches. This subdiscipline focuses on individuals and their thoughts. Experts in this field of study focus on why an individual acts as well as reacts the way he/she does. It studies the interaction between people, but the focus is on one human being rather than many individuals. Scientists as well as psychologists study it in order to understand how individuals influence and communicate with each other. This research paper seeks to address this branch of psychology in detail by explaining its meaning, the relationship between it and other fields of psychology and the differences as well as the similarities it has with these other fields. Further, the paper will also discuss the diverse research methods that are applicable with social psychology to determine how a person affects groups of people and how these groups affect an individual.
On a daily basis, people are being influenced by the people around them, whether it is directly or indirectly. A person’s thoughts, feelings and actions can influence and be influenced by society. These social interactions provide enough opportunity for the presence of people to influence and change behavior, views, and attitudes of an individual. There are several forms of social influences, such as conformity, which I will be discussing. Why we conform has been a topic of considerable interest to social psychologists in particular such as he classic and well-known studies of Muzafer Sherif and Solomon Asch. In addition to researching why we conform, there’s also the question of whether conformity is good or bad.