Chapter Eighteen

Social Influence
 Social Norms (what’s “normal”)
Learned, socially based rules of behavior.

● Injunctive Norms = behaviors perceived as

being approved of by other people.
● Descriptive Norms = perceptions of how other
people are actually behaving, whether or not
these are approved of.
● Explicit Norms = written or spoken openly.
● Implicit Norms = not openly stated (but you find
out when you transgress them).
 Conformity and Compliance
● Conformity: Change behavior or beliefs to
match others.
● Compliance: Adjust behavior because of a
request.
○ Requests can be explicit or implicit.
● Both are usually the result of norms.
○ Sherif’s experiment (1937) - point of light
○ Asch’s experiment (1956) - lines
Asch Conformity Study (1956)
● Subjects will give wrong answers if others
in the group are giving wrong answers.
Types of Stimulus Lines Used
in Experiments by Asch

Asch, S. E. (1955). Opinions and social pressure. Scientific American, 193, 31-35
 Inducing Compliance
● Foot-in-the-Door Technique
○ Start small… get small compliance then go for
larger compliance.
● Door-in-the-Face Procedure
○ Start big… ask for something huge, when that
is refused, then ask for what you want.
● Low-Ball Approach
○ Get agreement on something easy (like a low
price) then change the agreement to
something worse (higher price).
 Obedience
● Behavior change in response to a demand
from an authority.

● Why did “good Germans” follow orders during

WWII? Why do “good people” sometimes do
horrible things to others?

● Stanley Milgram’s Obedience Experiment in

1961
 QOD 5/3/10
● In your own
words, WRITE an
explanation of
Stanley Milgram’s
study of
obedience.
 Today
● Review Milgram
● Zimbardo’s Prison Study
● Exam Tips
● FRQ Tips & activity
● If time, Psych Jeopardy
Milgram (1961) Obedience Study
● 65% of participants went all the way to 450
● Only 1 participant refused under 300.
Milgram (1961) Obedience Study
● Relevance to Today’s
Society
○ French “gameshow” found
80% of subjects gave
severe “shocks” (2010)
● Ethical Questions
○ Psychologists are no
longer allowed to put
subjects through such
severe stress.
 Zimbardo- Stanford Prison
Experiment (1971)
● How do roles affect behavior?