SOCIAL INFLUENCE

OBJECTIVE
Compliance
• Discover why we • Factors that cause
conform. • Know the Weapons Destructive Obedience
• Factors affecting of Influence • How to resist D.O.
Conformity • Know the • Stanley Milgram’s
• Asch’s Experiment Persuasive Experiment
Psychological
Manipulation
Conformity Techniques
Obedience
SOCIAL INFLUENCE
— Efforts by one or more individuals to change
attitudes, beliefs, perceptions, or behaviors of
one or more others.
 CONFORMITY
To conform is to adjust your actions to a norm.

COMPLIANCE
To comply is to come to an agreement about a course of action.

OBEDIENCE
To obey is to do as an authority figure commands regardless of personal prefere
When have you gone along with
something that others have
said, just because you didn’t
want to stand out?
CONFORMITY
• Changed induced by general rules
concerning what behavior is appropriate or
required in a given situation.
• Pressure to behave in ways that are viewed
as acceptable or appropriate by a group or
society generally.
SOCIAL NORMS
— Rules indicating how individuals are
expected to behave in specific situations.
AUTOKINETIC PHENOMENON (MUZAFER SHERIF)

o The apparent movement of a single stationary source

of light in a dark room.
o Often used to study the emergence of norms and
social influence.

“When placed in a dark tunnel, tendency is to move

towards the light, same goes for norm because
people don’t know what to do without rules so they
follow if there is one.”
FACTORS AFFECTING CONFORMITY

Cohesiveness Group Size

Situationa
Social Norm l Norm
FACTORS AFFECTING CONFORMITY

Cohesiveness
— The extent to which we are attracted to
a social group and want to belong to it.
FACTORS AFFECTING CONFORMITY

Group Size
— The larger the group (8 or more), the
greater the number of people who behave in
some specific way, the greater our tendency to
conform.
FACTORS AFFECTING CONFORMITY

Social Norms
o Descriptive Norms
— What most people do in a given situation.
o Injunctive Norms
— What is ought to be done, what is
approved or disapproved behavior in given
situation.
FACTORS AFFECTING CONFORMITY

Situational Norms
— Norms that guide behavior in a certain
situation or environment.
SOCIAL ROOTS OF CONFORMITY
Why do people choose to go along? It is because of two factors:

Normative Social Influence

• The desire to be liked.
Informational Social Influence
• The desire to be right.
First
The need to maintain Individuality. FACTORS WHY
WE CHOOSE
Second NOT TO
The desire for personal control. CONFORM

Third
Norms that encourage individualism.
 First
Must be consistent in their opposition.

Second
FACTORS IN WHICH
Must avoid appearing rigid or dogmatic
THE MINORITY CAN
SOMETIMES
Third INFLUENCE THE
MAJORITY
Argue for a position that is consistent with current social trends. (e.g. Nature advocates)
Solomon
Asch
Aperiment
CONFORMITY
• Solomon Asch (1955)
studied conformity
to see if people
would conform to an
obviously wrong
opinion.
• 1/3 of participants
went along with the
obviously incorrect
consensus.
CONFORMITY
• Participants on Asch’s experiment
conformed because of the normative
social influence.
• They did not want to stand out from the
group and face possible ridicule; they
wanted to be part of the in-group.
 Compliance
• Discover why • Factors that cause
we conform. • Know the Weapons of Destructive
• Factors Influence Obedience
affecting • Know the • How to resist D.O.
Conformity Persuasive • Stanley Milgram’s
• Asch’s Experiment Psychological Experiment
Manipulation
Techniques
Conformity Obedience
COMPLIANCE
• Change in behavior, generally
produced by a request.
• Direct efforts to get others to
change their behavior in specific
ways.
ROBERT B. CIALDINI, PH. D.

• Regents’ Professor Emeritus

of Psychology and Marketing
at Arizona State University.
• He is best known for his book
on persuasion and marketing,
Influence: The Psychology of
Persuasion. Influence has sold
over 2 million copies and has
been translated into twenty-six
languages.
 Reciprocation

Scarcity Commitment

Weapons of
Influence

Authority Social Proof

Liking
“The Old Give and Take… and Take.”
“Hobgoblins of the Mind.”
“Truths are Us.”
“The Friendly Thief.”
“Directed Deference.”
“The Rule of the Few.”
PERSUASIVE PSYCHOLOGICAL
MANIPULATION TECHNIQUES
• Techniques used by compliance
professionals (e.g. salespeople,
recruiters, marketers, media, etc.).
• Can be used for manipulative purposes.
 FOOT-IN-THE-DOOR
— Consists in getting a “YES” to a low cost
action, difficult to be refused, in order to get
a “YES” to a much more costly one.
LOWBALL TECHNIQUE
— Gaining compliance in which, when the
target person agrees, the requester would
change the deal to a more disadvantageous
place for the target person.
DOOR-IN-THE-FACE
— Consists in getting a “NO” to a costly
request, impossible to be accepted or even
unrealistic, in order to get a “YES” to a much
more reasonable one.
THAT’S-NOT-ALL TECHNIQUE
— Gaining compliance in which the requester
offers additional benefits to target people
before they have decided whether to comply
or reject specific requests.
FOOT-IN-THE-MOUTH
—Consists in preceding the request by a form
of address. Asking how are they. It catches
the person on a personal level.
EXAMPLE:
Person 1: You look blooming today.
Person 2: Why, thank you. (flattered)
Person 1: How are you? You seem happy!
Person 2: Oh yes I am!
Person 1: That’s good to know! You go have a good day. 
Person 2: Thank you.
Person 1: Oh, by the way, could you lend me 150 pesos, because […]

See how the “BECAUSE” technique is also utilized.

“BECAUSE” TECHNIQUE

—People are more compliant when you give

people a reason for why you want them to
do something.
PLAYING-HARD-TO-GET
— Increasing compliance by suggesting that a
person or object is scarce or hard to obtain.
DEADLINE TECHNIQUE
— Increasing compliance by suggesting that
they only have limited time to take
advantage of some offer or to obtain some
item.
 FEAR-THEN-RELIEF
— Consists of creating stress before providing
a relief as a preparatory step for a later
request.
“BUT YOU ARE FREE OF”
TECHNIQUE

— Consists in clarifying after a request that the

targeted person should feel free not to
comply to the said request.
EXAMPLE:

“Could you please throw the garbage? I mean,

you’re free to refuse, if anyone forces you.”

—The evocation of freedom provoked the

compliance.
“A LITTLE IS BETTER
THAN NOTHING” TECHNIQUE
— Consists in helping the target to
understand that even a tiny contribution or
participation is better than nothing.
EXAMPLE:

Hello sir! I forgot my wallet and I really

need money to buy a bus ticket. Could
you please help me? Even 10 pesos
could help me.
ATTRIBUTION TECHNIQUE
— Consists in giving a persona good image of
his/herself, just by a simple sentence,
which will lead this person to accept your
request more easily.
 TOUCH TECHNIQUE
— Touching the person for a few second will
submit to your request.
 FOOT-IN-THE-DOOR
LOWBALL
DOOR-IN-THE-FACE
FOOT-IN-THE-MOUTH
THAT’S-NOT-ALL
PERSUASIVE PSYCHOLOGICAL MANIPULATION T
“BECAUSE”
HARD-TO-GET
DEADLINE
FEAR-THEN-RELIEF
BUT-YOU-ARE-FREE-OF
A LITTLE IS BETTER THAN NOTHING
ATTRIBUTION TECHNIQUE
TOUCH TECHNIQUE
We are influenced by others even when
they are not there.
SYMBOLIC SOCIAL INFLUENCE
— Psychological presence of others in
ours mental representation of them
influence our behavior and thought.
How?
Because of
GOALS.
 First, the extent people are present in our thoughts, this may
trigger relational schemas. When relational schemas are
triggered, goals relevant to them may be activated.

e of a person in our thoughts

Goals
Triggers relevantschemas
relational to them may be
• For instance, if the goal of
helping others is
triggered, then we may
become more helpful.
• Our goals may affect
our behavior.
SECOND,
Psychological presence of others may trigger goals which that person
Goals they want us to
achieve.
PERCEPTUAL CONTRAST
• A principle in human perception; it affects
the way we see the difference between two
things that are presented one after another.
• Simply put, if the second item is fairly
different from the first, we will tend to see
it more different than it actually is.
STORY
Sharon may be failing
Chemistry, but she gets
an “A” in Psychology.
 Compliance
• Discover why • Factors that cause
we conform. • Know the Weapons Destructive
• Factors of Influence Obedience
affecting • Know the • How to resist D.O.
Conformity Persuasive • Stanley Milgram’s
• Asch’s Experiment Psychological Experiment
Manipulation
Techniques
Conformity Obedience
OBEDIENCE
— Social Influence in which one
person simply orders one or more
others to do what they want.
Not much is to be said regarding obedience, only
that it is unparalleled in controlling people
because it is exhibited by people in power
especially authorities in position. Stanley
Milgram’s famous experiment, “Destructive
Obedience,” is to be remembered.
 MILGRAM EXPERIMENT
• The Milgram experiment on
obedience to authority
figures was a series of
notable social
psychology experiments
conducted by Yale University
psychologist Stanley Milgram
• Which measured the willingness
of study participants
to obey an authority figure who
instructed them to perform acts
that conflicted with their
personal conscience.
“Ordinary people, simply doing
their jobs, and without any
particular hostility on their part,
can become agents in a terrible
destructive process. Moreover,
even when the destructive effects
of their work become patently
clear, and they are asked to carry
out actions incompatible with
fundamental standards of
morality, relatively few people
have the resources needed to
resist authority.”
FACTORS THAT CAUSE DESTRUCTIVE OBEDIENCE

Persons in authority assume Persons in authority often have

responsibility visible signs of their status and
power

Strong tendency
to obey

Commands are gradual in Events move at fast pace,

nature, and do not start out giving the persons involved
with orders to perform little chance to consider
extreme actions their options
 Individuals must remind Individuals must have a clear
themselves that they, not the indication that total
authorities, are responsible for submission to destructive
any hard produced commands is inappropriate

How to resist D.O.

Individuals may find it easier to Simply knowing about the

resist influence from authority power of authority figures to
if they question the expertise command blind obedience
and motives of these figures may be helpful in itself
 Compliance
• Discover why • Factors that cause
we conform. • Know the Weapons Destructive
• Factors of Influence Obedience
affecting • Know the • How to resist D.O.
Conformity Persuasive • Stanley Milgram’s
• Asch’s Experiment Psychological Experiment
Manipulation
Techniques
Conformity Obedience
“It takes tremendous discipline
to control the influence, the
power you have over other
people's lives.”
—Clint Eastwood