Obedience, Conformity and Compliance

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Obedience, Conformity and Compliance

• The 3 main behavioral consequences of social
  influence.

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Social Power

• Social power refers to the force available to the
  influencer to motivate this change.
• There are three main behavioral consequences of
  social influence
• Compliance is publicly acting in accord with a
  direct request.
• external compliance acting in accord with
  a direct request while privately disagreeing
• internal compliance both acting and
  believing in accord with a request.
• Obedience is the performance of an action in
  response to a direct order.
• Conformity is yielding to perceived group
  pressure.

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What is obedience?

• It is the performance of an action in response to
  a direct order.
• What is an example of obedience?
• One of the most famous examples in history of
  obedience is the German obedience to Hitler and
  the Nazi Regime.
• The Nazis had put to death over 6
• million Jews and several other nationalities.

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How could this happen?

• It is called obedience. You may not think you are
  capable of doing such a horrendous thing, but
  many of you are.
• Stanley Milgram at Yale University conducted a
  series of experiments from 1961-1962.
• Prof. Milgram ran an ad for people to participate
  in a psychology experiment for 4.50 per hour.
  (Yes, this was a decent pay for an hours work
  then.)

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How was the experiment conducted?

• The participants were each told that they would
  be chosen for a role of either a teacher or
  learner. This was to be done by a drawing of
  lots. (This was rigged that the subjects would be
  the teacher and an actor would play the role of
  the learner.)
• The participants were told that the teachers
  would ask questions and the learners would
  respond until they gave the correct answer.

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The Electrical Shock Machine

• The teachers were instructed that they would
  administer shocks in increasing increments of 15
  volts by flipping switches.
• The last three switches were marked XXX
  indicating death or harm could occur although
  they were not told that.
• The teacher observed that the electrodes were
  placed on the learners arm. Then the teacher
  would take his place at the machine.

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The Experiment

• In the experiment, there was a person in a white
  lab coat representing the experimenter. He
  instructed the teacher to ask the questions.
• The teacher would ask the learner questions until
  an incorrect answer was given. They would
  administer an electric shock to the learner and
  increase the volts until the correct answer was
  given.

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Reactions

• Once the learner received several shocks, he
  finally would plead for no more shocks, explain
  eventually he had a heart condition and couldnt
  take it.
• When the teacher did not want to continue with
  the shocks, the experimenter would simply state
  that they were to continue and that the
  experimenter would accept all responsibility for
  whatever happened.

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Milgrams Shock Generator and Learner With
Electrodes attached.
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Results

• 65 of the subjects (teacher role), who were
  ordinary residents of New Haven, were willing to
  give apparently harmful electric shocks-up to 450
  volts-to a pitifully protesting victim, simply
  because a scientific authority (the experimenter)
  commanded them to, and in spite of the fact that
  the victim did not do anything to deserve such
  punishment.
• The above information came from
  www.stanleymilgram.com

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What did the research prove?

• Stanley Milgram did not believe that in
  America, we would have been obedient in being
  capable of killing under orders as the Germans
  were during WWII.
• The research proved we are capable of killing
  under orders.
• As a side note, Milgram was going to do the
  experiment in Germany and decided there was no
  need due to the results he received.
• The research was repeated by researchers in other
  nations and their results were more impressive.
  The people they studied were more likely to kill
  under orders than the group Milgram had studied.

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I Betcha didnt know.

• Milgram's "shock machine" still exists. It can
  be found at the Archives of the History of
  American Psychology at the University of Akron.
  For a number of years, beginning in 1992, it was
  part of a traveling psychology exhibit created by
  the American Psychological Association.
  (http//www.stanleymilgram.com/facts.php)

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Who was more obedient males or females?

• Milgram found an identical rate of obedience in
  both groups-65--although obedient women
  consistently reported more stress than men.
• There are about a dozen replications of the
  obedience experiment world-wide which had male
  and female subjects. All of them, with one
  exception, also found no male-female
  differences. Milgram Website

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If you were one of the of subjects in the
Milgram Experiment how would you justify your
actions?

• Yale University.
• prestigious scientific university
• "authority figure
• experimenter looks distinguished in lab coat
• ambiguous situation
• Ive never been in a situation like this
• "volunteered for study
• he volunteered, so hes obligated to finish" or
  "I volunteered, so I must stay committed
• teacher-learner by chance
• I could have just as easily ended up the
  learner
• "foot-in-the-door
• learner seems willing to play the game for a
  while" and "Well, Ive already given 15 shocks,
  might as well keep going
• "worthy purpose
• momentary discomfort of learner is outweighed
  by long-term benefits for scientific community
• diffusion of responsibility
• I was only carrying out orders
• depersonalize victim

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Would Stanley Milgram find we would obey less
today then when he did his experiment?

• It is very unlikely that there would be
• less obedience today.
• Research indicates that there would be just as
  much if not more obedience than there was then.

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Real life examples

• Do these effects occur in "real life"?Hofling et
  al. did some research in 1966 and found that
• 22 Nurses were telephoned by a doctor they didn't
  know. They were ordered to administer a
  non-prescribed drug in double the maximum dosage
  to a patient. Results 21 out of 22 nurses
  (95.5) followed the doctor's orders.
• Bushman in 1988 did an experiment and found
  the following
• Woman searches for change for parking meter.
  Another woman orders pedestrians to give the
  first woman a nickel. This second woman is
  dressed
• In uniform
• In a business suit
• As a panhandler
• Results More persons gave money if ordered by
  woman in uniform.

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Conformity Research

• Sherif (1937) studied some social factors
  regarding perception.
• Sherif used the autokinetic effect to do his
  research. (autokinetic effect means that a
  stationary point of light in the dark is
  perceived as if it is moving. Psychologists
  attribute the perception of movement where there
  is none to "small, involuntary movements of the
  eyeball" (Schick and Vaughn 1995 47).
• Sherif found in his study that when the subjects
  discussed their estimate of the movement of light
  with each other, they came to an agreement. Yet
  when not permitted to discuss their estimates
  were different.
• Although the data indicate that influence was
  present, subjects denied that they were
  influenced by others.
• The more uncertain subjects were about reality,
  the more they were influenced by others,
  especially confident others.
• Norms, once established by the group, were used
  by participants even when they were alone.

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Sherifs Findings

• Sherif found in his study that when the subjects
  discussed their estimate of the movement of light
  with each other, they came to an agreement. Yet
  when not permitted to discuss their estimates
  were different.
• Although the data indicate that influence was
  present, subjects denied that they were
  influenced by others.
• The more uncertain subjects were about reality,
  the more they were influenced by others,
  especially confident others.
• Norms, once established by the group, were used
  by participants even when they were alone.

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Solomon Aschs Research on Conformity

• The reason for the study was to examine the
  extent to which pressure from other people could
  affect one's perceptions.
• He used 50 college students plus 7 associates for
  his study.

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How was it conducted?

• Asch had 7 of his associates sit at a table with
  the subject. The subject thought the associates
  were also volunteers.
• At various times, all were asked to judge the
  length of lines on cards presented to them.
• When asked to judge the length of lines on cards
  shown to them, the subject would accurately judge
  the line length. When asked to judge it with the
  others and the others made an obvious incorrect
  judgment on the line length, the subject would
  agree.

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Aschs Findings

• When asked to judge line length alone, subjects
  were very accurate, but when confederates made an
  obviously incorrect judgment, subjects tended to
  comply.
• 37 of the 50 subjects conformed to the majority
  at least once, and 14 of them conformed on more
  than 6 of the 12 trials.

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Why did the subjects conform so easily?

• When they were interviewed after the experiment,
  most of them said that they did not really
  believe their conforming answers, but had gone
  along with the group for fear of being ridiculed
  or thought different.
• A few of them said that they really did believe
  the group's answers were correct.

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Asch Revised His Experiment

• Why a revision?
• To see whether the subjects truly did not
  believe their incorrect answers
• Results of the revised experiment
• When they were permitted to write down their
  answers after hearing the answers of others,
  their level of conformity declined to about one
  third what it had been in the original
  experiment.

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One of Aschs Line Cards
One of Aschs Groups. Note the actual subject by
number.
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Solomon Aschs Conclusion

• Asch found that one of the situational factors
  that influence conformity is the size of the
  opposing majority.
• Asch concluded that it is difficult to maintain
  that you see something when no one else does. The
  group pressure implied by the expressed opinion
  of other people can lead to modification and
  distortion effectively making you see almost
  anything.

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Situational Factors that Impact Conformity

• Group size
• Conformity is near its peak when 3 to 4
  members agree, with no further increase in effect
  up to 15.
• Group size is a factor when the social
  reality is unambiguous.
• If the reality is ambiguous,
  informational influence is more important.
• Group cohesiveness and topic relevance
• how cohesive is the group and how
  important is the topic?
• Social support
• When the majority is not unanimous,
  conformity drops dramatically.

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Personal Factors That Influence Conformity

• Self-awareness
• Being publicly self-aware increases
  conformity, whereas being privately self-aware
  decreases conformity.
• Self-presentation
• Conformity is most likely to occur when
  self-presenters are alone with those trying to
  influence them and when the conformity will be
  viewed as indicating intelligence or
  open-mindedness.
• The desire for personal control
• The theory of psychological reactance
  states that people believe they possess specific
  behavioral freedoms and that they will react
  against and resist attempts to limit this sense
  of freedom.

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Compliance

• Three Factors That Encourage Compliance
• 1.Positive Moods
• People are more likely to comply when they
  are in a good mood.
• 2.Reciprocity
• The norm of reciprocity states that people
  should return a favor or a good deed and is a
  powerful influence across cultures.
• 3.Giving Reasons
• Giving reasons, regardless of the merit of
  the reasons, appears to generate mindless
  compliance.

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Two-Step Compliance Strategies Are Effective for
Different Reasons

• Foot-in-the-Door The persuader secures
  compliance with a small request and then follows
  it up later with a larger, less desirable
  request.
• Door-in-the-Face The persuader makes a very
  large request that is almost certain to be
  refused, and then follows it up with a less
  costly request.
• Thats-Not-All The persuader makes a large
  request, but then immediately follows with a
  discount or bonus that makes the request more
  reasonable.
• Low-Balling The persuader secures agreement with
  a request by understating its true cost.

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Examples of Compliance Strategies Used Frequently

• Foot-in-the-Door Someone asks you to give them
  just a few minutes of your time. Then soon they
  are there much longer, usually trying to sell you
  something or to get you to do something.
• Door-in-the-Face Someone asks you to loan them
  50.00 then when you refuse they ask you for
  25.00 which is less than what they originally
  asked for and is the actual amount they wanted.
• Thats-Not-All A television ad asks you to make
  a large purchase of their product and then
  immediately follow it up with you also get this
  free, and that free and if you dont like it,
  they will let you keep the free gifts after you
  return their product.
• Low-Balling Car salespeople use this one a lot.
  They secure your agreement to purchase a vehicle.
  They understate the true cost and when you done
  buying the vehicle, the out the door price is
  significantly higher than you agreed to.

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What Inhibits Conformity, Compliance and
Obedience?

• Observing Others Defy Authority Figures
  Significantly Reduces In groups where some people
  model disobedience, defiance is more common.
  Having a group receive unacceptable instructions
  may reduce obedience because of the possibility
  of collective action against the authority.

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Thank you for allowing me to lecture in your
class.

• I hope what I shared is something that will
  benefit you, not only in college, but in other
  areas of your life.
• Judith V.
  Wilkerson
• Graduate
  Student of
• Sociology