Conformity, Compliance and Obedience

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Conformity, Compliance and Obedience
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• What is conformity? A change in behavior/opinion
  due to real or perceived pressure from others.
• Stand-out points from ch. 2?
• Do we see conformity in human service settings?
• Clients as individuals or in groups
• Staff as a group
• Funding decisions
• Policy and procedure discussions
• Consequences?

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Motivators for conformity

• Consider from both your perspective and the
  clients perspective
• Reward and punishment
• What might these be in a workplace?
• Need for information
• How might this occur in a workplace?

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What makes us more likely to conform?

• Unanimity
• Commitment
• Accountability
• The person and the culture s-e as a
  professional? Length of time on the job?
  Standing in the workplace?
• Who are the other people involved?
• Experts, high social status, comparable
• Observe and analyze - http//www.youtube.com/watch
  ?vOSsPfbup0acfeature

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Responses to social influence

• Compliance-power
• Reward or punishment driven
• Identification-attractiveness
• Desire to be like the person
• Internalization-credibility
• Congruency with our values.

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Compliance

• Behavior or attitude lives only as long as the
  threat of punishment or the promise of reward is
  present.
• Doesnt involve much thought about the
  behavior/attitude itselfsimply a response.

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Identification

• Lasting behavior/attitude if I continue to
  admire/value/like the person Im conforming to.
• May diminish because others become more
  important, more desirable.
• May diminish because it becomes more important to
  me to be right.

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Internalization

• We take on as our own the belief or the attitude
  no longer depends on reward/punishment or the
  models influence.

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• Read the article Mentoring Marines
• In small groups
• Discuss the article and analyze what conditions
  might increase conformity. Identify two
  examples.
• In what ways are compliance, identification and
  internalization relevant to this situation?
• With what other social problems could we take the
  approach described in the article?

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• Read the article Mentoring Marines
• In small groups
• Discuss the article and analyze what conditions
  might increase conformity. Identify two
  examples.
• In what ways are compliance, identification and
  internalization relevant to this situation?
• With what other social problems could we take the
  approach described in the article?

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Strategizing

1. Brainstorm work situations where conformity may
   pose problems.
2. Youll be assigned a concept develop a short
   skit that demonstrates the concept in one of the
   work situations.
3. After the skit, explain whats going on.

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Letting things gothe Bystander Effect and Social
Problems

• What are some situations in which ordinary people
  could take action and reduce a negative outcome?
• Violence
• Acquaintance rape
• Interpersonal violence

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Key factors

• Is this an emergency?
• Is anyone else around?
• Are they getting involved?
• Is there group cohesion?
• Will I see these people later?
• Am I responsible?
• What is the cost to me of getting involved?
• Will I be useful?
• What are the costs/benefits of not helping?
• Do I share a common fate?

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• SEXUAL VIOLENCE PREVENTION
• THROUGH BYSTANDER
• EDUCATION AN EXPERIMENTAL
• EVALUATION
• Victoria L. Banyard, Mary M. Moynihan, and
• Elizabethe G. Plante
• University of New HampshireJOURNAL OF COMMUNITY
  PSYCHOLOGY, Vol. 35, No. 4, 463481 (2007)

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Study details

• 3 groups, control, 1 session and 3 session
• Intervention included knowledge, role of
  bystander, role playing.
• Measures included sexual assault knowledge,
  rape myth acceptance, efficacy scale, bystander
  attitudes, bystander behavior, decisional
  balance.