Psychology

Social influence is the alteration of actions that one person causes in another, consciously or unconsciously, depending on how the changed person view his or her self in relationship with the influencer, other people and society in general (Changing Minds Organization Website). The changed person may have an alteration of thought, feeling and behavior which is due to actual, imagined or implied presence of others (Utah State University Website). The powerful social situation triggers these changes in behavior in more than ways than one.  There are two kinds of social influence  normative and informational. Human as a social being feels the need to belong to social groups (Changing Minds Organization Website). Survival and prosperity throughout the history of mankind showed that it is more likely if people live and work together. However, in order to have a harmonious relationship with one another, people need to agree on common beliefs, values, attitudes and behaviors that reduce internal conflicts within groups for the common good.

People thus learn to conform to other peoples rules. The more people who are acting in the same fashion, the greater the pressure to follow suit. This still happens even when amongst complete strangers. A person will not deviate as this will draw peoples attention and the person will be cast out. However, the pressure to conform is greatest in the presence of people whom people respected and loved in the group. Thus families and friends can apply very strong normative influence. People with lower sense of worth and who long for approval of others may well be more easily persuaded this way. Pieces of advice may be offered to them in order to fit in but if they still do not obey the norms, they are eventually ostracized and their membership of the group revoked.

National culture also has a major effect on people. Example is Japan which has collectivist cultures and thus more likely to be influenced than in more individualistic cultures, such as in the USA.

Informational social influence plays part when people do not know how to behave or react, that is why they copy other peoples actions. This kind of social influence is common when the station is ambiguous, there is a crisis and others are experts. Other people act as information sources based on the assumption that they are sure of what they are doing. Also because other peoples opinion matters, copying others provides a safe course of action. At the very least, the person will not be at fault of whatever consequences of hisher actions.

There are three areas of social influence conformity, compliance and obedience.
Conformity.........................Compliance..........................Obedience
(least coercive)       (Most coercive)

HYPERLINK httpchangingminds.orgexplanationstheoriesa_conforming.htm Conformity involves changing ones behavior or opinion in order to blend in with a group (Changing Minds Organization Website). People conform in order to have a sense of belonging and to be appreciated by others. Conformity can be very serious as beliefs and values are altered to be one with peers and esteemed superiors. Conformity is typical among groups of a similar age, culture, religion or educational status. Those who are unwilling to harmonize with the group run the risk of Social rejection social rejection. It is very complex and sometimes being done unconsciously (Boeree, 1999). Examples of unconscious conformity are the norms learned and internalized during childhood. These norms are not doubted and people take them as given as they are established in the society. Conformity is sometimes seen as a conversion when it is voluntary and more dramatic. Certain norms are accepted and adopted because of wanting to belong to the group whom ones personal values and goals are shared. In its more dramatic forms, this is called conversion. But in research literature, conformity is often defensive conformity. It is consciously done but involuntarily brought on by social anxiety like fear of embarrassment, discomfort at confusion, a sense of inferiority, a desire to be liked, and so on.

Compliance is where a person does something because they are forced or asked by another (Utah State University Website). They may decide to comply or not to comply, though the idea of social punishment may lead them to acquiescence when they really do not want to comply. The request may be unambiguous, such as an open request for donations, or contained, such as an advertisement promoting its products without directly asking for purchase. In all cases, the target can make out that he or she is being encouraged to respond in a preferred way. Those who comply against ones will or better judgment the following effects may happen

People fulfill the wish of a perceived authority, even acting in strongly immoral ways or doing other things that disagree with their values.

Attempts at compulsory compliance can easily make a repercussion, particularly amongst those who refuse to comply.

Persuaders who are unpopular are more likely to be successful in forming a new attitude.
Unpopular persuaders are more effective because people are intrigued of their actions. If they meet the terms of someone who is attractive or otherwise likable, they can assure themselves that their actions are perfectly normal and that they are cting as a favor to the person or because they liked them.

Obedience is different from compliance but somewhat similar to conformity (Boeree, 1999). It is abiding to an order from someone that you recognize as an authority figure (Changing Minds Organization Website). Unlike in compliance where a person can exercise his her choice, in obedience, the person believes that heshe does not have an option but to follow. It can be differentiated by the stress on the impact of legitimacy (as opposed to other social pressures), and by the fact that it usually involves a single person commanding the authority and giving specific instructions (Boeree, 1999). Many military officers and commercial managers are interested only in obedience. Stanley Milgram proposed the agentic theory to explain why obedience to authority has such as strong hold to peoples behavior. The theory states that people act as the agent of someone in authority in order to deny personal responsibility for hisher own actions just following orders or just doing our job (St. Olaf College Website). Obedience to authority is deeply ingrained from early childhood when we are taught to obey our parents, teachers and elders. It is possible that the demand characteristics raised obedience rates. In Milgrams experiments people felt they were helping in a scientific experiment. It also helped that the authority appeared to be academic experts at a top university, people would have trusted them.

Another popular research study on social influence is the one conducted by Solomon Asch on conformity (Age-of-the-Sage Organization Website). He showed how a person could be influenced by others in a group to claim that a clearly shorter line in a group of lines was, in fact, the longest. He found out that one of the situational factors that determine conformity is the size of the opposing group. Some of the participants in the experiment indicated afterward that they assumed the rest of the people were accurate and that their own observations were mistaken. Others knew they were correct but refused to be different from what the rest of the group is saying. Some even maintained that they saw the line lengths as the majority claimed to see them. Asch concluded that it is difficult to claim something that other people do not see. The pressure from the group is too strong to ignore and to cause modification and distortion effectively making you see and believe almost anything.