In social psychology, there are three important ideas that help us understand how people's behavior can be influenced by others. These ideas are compliance, conformity, and obedience.
Compliance: This means changing how you act because someone asks you to. This could be someone in charge or even a friend. For example, a researcher named Cialdini found that using a method called "foot-in-the-door" can make people more likely to agree to requests—sometimes by as much as 300%!
Conformity: This is when people change their behavior to fit in with a group, even when no one directly asks them to. A researcher named Solomon Asch found out that about 75% of people in his experiments went along with wrong answers that the group gave at least once. This shows just how strong group pressure can be.
Obedience: This is when you follow instructions from someone in authority. A famous study by Milgram found that 65% of participants were willing to give shocks they thought were dangerous to others just because an authority figure told them to. This shows how powerful authority can be.
Knowing the differences between compliance, conformity, and obedience helps us understand why people might go against what they personally believe when they feel pressure from others or from authority figures.
In social psychology, there are three important ideas that help us understand how people's behavior can be influenced by others. These ideas are compliance, conformity, and obedience.
Compliance: This means changing how you act because someone asks you to. This could be someone in charge or even a friend. For example, a researcher named Cialdini found that using a method called "foot-in-the-door" can make people more likely to agree to requests—sometimes by as much as 300%!
Conformity: This is when people change their behavior to fit in with a group, even when no one directly asks them to. A researcher named Solomon Asch found out that about 75% of people in his experiments went along with wrong answers that the group gave at least once. This shows just how strong group pressure can be.
Obedience: This is when you follow instructions from someone in authority. A famous study by Milgram found that 65% of participants were willing to give shocks they thought were dangerous to others just because an authority figure told them to. This shows how powerful authority can be.
Knowing the differences between compliance, conformity, and obedience helps us understand why people might go against what they personally believe when they feel pressure from others or from authority figures.