Exam 8: Conformity: Influencing Behavior

Recall that when Solomon Asch (1955) conducted an experiment in which six confederates gave the wrong judgment about the lengths of lines and in which a seventh confederate gave the correct judgment, participants' normative conformity dropped drastically. These findings support the importance of ________ in creating conformity.

Give examples from your life of the two types of social norms. Be sure to include a definition of each.

It is likely that participants in Stanley Milgram's obedience experiments (conducted in the 1960s and 1970s) were willing to administer increasingly severe shocks to a confederate learner because when confronted with a confusing, unfamiliar, and upsetting situation, they would turn to the experimenter for cues as to how to proceed. This speculation in essence identifies ________ as a source of participants' destructive obedience.

The norm in your large psychology class is that students will remain quiet enough for others to hear the professor and one another during lectures and discussions. When you talk loudly to the person next to you and violate the norm, like the deviant in Stanley Schachter' s "Johnny Rocco" study, you can expect that your classmates will first

Recall the cross-cultural conformity research conducted by J. W. Berry (1967) and others. Based on this research, who would be least likely to conform to other group members' opinions?

According to the text, what are the three things that happen to individuals who resist normative social influence?

Teenagers are often more susceptible to influence attempts from peers than from their parents. This is because peers become more important to teenagers than their parents are. This example represents the influence of Bibb Latané's (1981) concept of ________ on normative conformity.

Khadija has conformed to others' behaviors or attitudes because she believes that their interpretations of an ambiguous situation are more accurate than hers. ________ has occurred.

According to the authors, in part because the experimental procedures were so ________, it was difficult for participants in Stanley Milgram's obedience experiments to abandon the "Obey legitimate authority" norm in favor of the norm that says, "Do no harm."

According to the authors of your text, mass psychogenic illness is more easily spread now because of

________ is defined as "the deliberate, systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipulate cognitions, and direct behavior to achieve a response that furthers the desired intent of the communicator."

The concept of social norms refers to

Changes in depictions of men's and women's bodies in the media demonstrate changes in ________ social influence, and changes in perceptions of one's own actual and ideal body demonstrate ________ social influence.

The authors of your text suggest that there are two major motivations for people to conform,

Solomon Asch conducted a series of studies in which confederates publicly gave an obviously wrong judgment, and then a participant was asked to make a judgment about the length of several lines he or she saw. What was the result of this study? Describe how participants behaved. Additionally, state if they were subject to normative or informational social influence.

How did researchers know that the 1998 case of mass psychogenic illness at a Tennessee high school (described in the text) was due to social influence?

Burger's (2009) replication of Milgram's studies on obedience to authority suggests that compared with people in the 1970s, people in 2006 were ________ likely to obey authority.

Your niece Caitlin is deathly afraid of glass elevators. You have just read Chapter 8, and have decided to use informational social influence to convince Caitlin that there is no need to be afraid to ride in glass elevators. How would you apply the concept of informational social influence in this situation?

Bill has been deprived of human contact for long periods of time. He will tend to experience

Dr. Emile is trying to replicate Asch's study in a collectivist culture. He's not seeing the degree of conformity in the lab that Asch saw. Which of the following is the most likely reason why?