SOCIAL
INFLUENCE: Compliance and Conformity
Cialdini, R. B., & Goldstein, N. J. (2004). Social influence:
Compliance and conformity. Annual
Review of Psychology,55, 591-621. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/205845016?accountid=1724...
Cialdini, R. B., & Goldstein, N. J. (2004).
Social influence: Compliance and conformity. Annu. Rev. Psychol., 55, 591-621.
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ABSTRACT
This
review covers recent developments in the social influence literature,
focusing primarily on compliance and conformity research published between 1997
and 2002. The principles and processes underlying a target's susceptibility to
outside influences are considered in light of three goals
fundamental to rewarding human functioning. Specifically, targets are motivated
to form accurate perceptions of reality and react accordingly, to develop and preserve
meaningful social relationships, and to maintain a
favorable self-concept. Consistent with the current movement in compliance and
conformity research, this review emphasizes the ways in which these goals
interact with external forces to engender social influence processes
that are subtle, indirect, and outside of awareness.
Keywords: obedience, norms, foot-in-the-door, door-in-the-face,
motivation
INTRODUCTION
The study of social influence is renowned for its demonstration and
explication of dramatic psychological phenomena that often occur in direct
response to overt social forces. Some of the most memorable
images from the field's history depict participants struggling to comprehend
their circumstances and to respond in accordance with their private judgments
in the face of external pressures to do otherwise. These images include a
middle-aged gentleman nearly brought to hysterics by a stranger in a lab coat,
as exhibited in Milgram's (1974) work on obedience to authority. They also
include that bespectacled and rather befuddled young man in Asch's (1956)
line-judgment conformity experiments, whose perceptions pitted the likelihood
of an incorrect consensus against the likelihood of an incorrect eyeglass
prescription. In these classic illustrations, the targets of influence were confronted with explicit social forces
that were well within conscious awareness. In contrast, Freedman & Eraser's
(1966) seminal investigation of the foot-in-the-door technique, an example of
compliance gaining without overt pressure, revealed the subtler aspects of social influence. Although all three
lines of research have been prominent in stimulating decades of insightful
inquiries into the nature of compliance and conformity, scholars in recent
years have been inclined to explore topics more in line with the latter
approach; that is, researchers have tended to concentrate their efforts on
examining social influence processes that are subtle, indirect,
and nonconscious.
The social-cognitive movement has also
reverberated throughout contemporary influence research, as investigators attempt to
uncover the ways in which targets' implicit and explicit goals affect
information processing and decision-making in influence contexts. As an organizational
framework, this chapter focuses on the extent to which three central
motivations-to be accurate, to affiliate, and to maintain a positive
self-concept (see also Cialdini & Trost 1998, Wood 2000)-drive targets'
cognitions and behaviors in the areas of compliance and conformity. We place a
special emphasis on scholarly work published between 1997 and 2002.
COMPLIANCE
Compliance refers to
a particular kind of response-acquiescence-to a particular kind of
communication-a request. The request may be explicit, as in the direct
solicitation of funds in a door-to-door campaign for charitable donations, or
it may be implicit, as in a political advertisement that touts the qualities of
a candidate without directly asking for a vote. But in all cases, the target
recognizes that he or she is being urged to respond in a desired way.
Goal of Accuracy
Stated simply,
people are motivated to achieve their goals in the most effective and rewarding
manner possible. A person's desire to respond appropriately to a dynamic social situation
demands an accurate perception of reality. The need to correctly interpret and
react to incoming information is of paramount importance, particularly to
targets of compliance-gaining attempts. One inaccurate perception, cognition,
or behavior could mean the difference between getting a bargain and being
duped. A great deal of recent compliance research has investigated how targets
of various influence techniques process information and
respond to requests as they attempt to gain an accurate construal of the
situation and respond accordingly.
AFFECT AND AROUSAL. Much of the compliance research on
arousal and affective states has focused on the effect of discrete emotions on
targets' cognitions as well as on the eventual outcome of the influence attempt. After receiving a request,
targets use their feelings as cues for effective responding. For example,
Whatley et al. (1999) differentiated between the emotions and related goals
associated with public and private compliance in response to a favor. They
posited that individuals avoid or alleviate feelings of shame and fear via
public compliance, and guilt and pity via private compliance. Several other
researchers have also focused on the impact of targets' actual or anticipated
guilt on compliance (e.g., Boster et al. 1999; O'Keefe & Figgé 1997, 1999;
Rind 1997; Tusing & Dillard 2000). In addition, investigators have explored
the influence of mere arousal, finding that the
simple arousal elicited by performing an interesting task enhances the
likelihood of compliance with a request (Rind 1997, Rind & Strohmetz 2001).
Searching for a
broader perspective on the role of affect in compliance scenarios, Forgas
(1998a) argued that the conditions under which affect mediates the processing
of and responses to requests can be explained by the affect infusion model
(AIM; Forgas 1995). The AIM contends that a target's mood will permeate the
processing of a request to the extent that the processing is effortful and
exhaustive (Forgas 1995, 1998a). That is, an individual's affective state is likely
to be integrated into the processing of the request in situations that call for
constructive elaboration of "the available stimulus information, require
the activation and use of previous knowledge structures, and result in the
creation of new knowledge from the combination of stored information and new
stimulus details" (Forgas 2001, p. 152). Forgas (1998a) suggested that the
processing of a request will be more sensitive to mood if the appeal is
unconventional (requiring more substantive processing), and rather impervious
to mood if it is conventional. Combined with other findings demonstrating the
role of the AIM in influencing the communication and bargaining strategies
employed by compliance requesters (Forgas 1999) and negotiators (Forgas 1998b),
the evidence as a whole appears to validate the notion that mood effects in
compliance scenarios are mediated by both the targets' and requesters' levels
of information processing.
The AIM, like many
other theories of affect and cognition, focuses on processes that occur while
an individual is experiencing a transient emotion or set of emotions. Dolinski
& Nawrat (1998) established the success of a technique designed to increase
compliance immediately after a particularly arousing mood has subsided. In one demonstration
of their fear-then-relief procedure, a card matching the general appearance of
a parking ticket was placed either under a windshield wiper (commonly where
parking tickets are found) or on a door of illegally parked cars in Poland. The
cards placed on the door were advertisements (No Anxiety), whereas the
windshield wiper cards were either fake parking tickets (Anxiety) or
advertisements (Anxiety-then-Relief). Drivers who experienced apprehension
followed by assuagement were more likely to comply with a request than those
who continued to be anxious or those never made anxious in the first place. The
authors suggested that fear-then-relief participants behaved in a relatively
mindless manner, caused by a diversion of resources to cognitions and counterfactuals
regarding the fear-provoking event.
THAT's-NOT-ALL TECHNIQUE. As in the
fear-then-relief procedure, targets in compliance situations are often burdened
with the task of correctly comprehending, evaluating, and responding to
requests in a relatively short time, and therefore lack the luxury of entirely
deliberate and rational decision-making. One strategy commonly employed by
sales professionals that takes advantage of people's limited abilities to make
well-reasoned judgments is the that's-not-all technique (TNA; Burger 1986). Influence agents utilize this technique by
presenting a target with an initial request, followed by an almost immediate
sweetening of the deal-either by reducing the cost or by increasing the
benefits of compliance-before the message recipient has an opportunity to
respond. Although obligations to reciprocate the solicitor's generosity have
been shown to be at least partially responsible for the effect in some
situations, Burger advanced a second, broader explanation for the phenomenon
based on the contrast between the two requests and shifting anchor points (see
Burger 1986).
Researchers have
recently resumed the pursuit of understanding the processes that mediate the
technique's efficacy, seeking to clarify the psychological mechanisms at work
through an exploration of the tactic's limitations. For example, Burger and
colleagues (1999) demonstrated that the procedure could backfire when the
original request is too costly or demanding. Although the evidence is indirect,
the authors suggest that both these and earlier (Burger 1986) findings are
congruent with the theory that the initial request modifies the anchor point
individuals use when deciding how to respond to the more attractive request.
Thus, by first elevating a prospective customer's anchor point, the salesperson
increases the likelihood that the better deal will fall into a range of
acceptance that is based on this higher anchor point (Burger 1986, Burger et
al. 1999). In the case of an unreasonably large initial request, the
excessively high anchor value may be perceived as completely out of the range
of acceptance, leading to immediate rejection even before the solicitor has a
chance to revise the request (Burger et al. 1999).
Pollock et al.
(1998) suggested an alternative account for the original TNA findings. They
contended that TNA procedures succeed because potential customers mindlessly
act on counterfactuals that create the appearance of a bargain. These authors
reported results consistent with the position that the success of the TNA
tactic is at least partially due to individuals' mindless consideration of the
deal. However, their research did not provide a direct test of their account
against the modified anchor point explanation, and the Pollock et al. mechanism
alone does not explicitly predict the boomerang effect found by Burger et al,
(1999).
RESISTANCE. Following the work of Pollock et al.
(1998), some researchers have placed the that's-not-all tactic among a class of influence strategies referred to as
disrupt-then-reframe techniques (DTR; Davis & Knowles 1999, Knowles &
Linn 2003). The DTR technique operates by disrupting an individual's
understanding of and resistance to an influence attempt and refraining the persuasive
message or request so that the individual is left more vulnerable to the
proposition (Davis & Knowles 1999). The procedure is thought to work by
disturbing the evaluation stage of Gilbert's (1991) two-stage model for message
and situation comprehension (Knowles & Linn 2003). In the initial
demonstration of the strategy, Davis & Knowles (1999) went door-to-door
selling holiday cards for $3. In addition to a control condition ("They're
three dollars"), the sales pitch included a disruptive element
("They're three hundred pennies"), a reframing element ("It's a
bargain"), or various permutations of these possibilities. The researchers
found increased compliance relative to the control only in the
disrupt-followed-by-reframe condition ("They're three hundred pennies...
that's three dollars. It's a bargain."), suggesting that a target's
general, high-order representation of the event ("I am being
solicited") must be disturbed before the issue can be reframed ("It's
a bargain") for the target. Knowles and colleagues suggest that the
that's-not-all technique is a special case of DTR in which the revision of the
original request serves as the disruption; the reframing ("It's a
bargain") is implicit rather than explicit (Davis & Knowles 1999,
Knowles & Linn 2003).
The
disrupt-then-reframe tactic enhances the likelihood of compliance by
suppressing the target's resistance processes rather than by directly
bolstering the desirability of request fulfillment. Knowles & Linn (2003)
argue that forces drawing targets away from compliance (omega forces) in any
given circumstance may be of a qualitatively different nature than those
driving them toward compliance (alpha forces). Investigations of the processes
associated with alpha strategies of influence are ubiquitous in the literature (see
Cialdini 2001), whereas omega strategies have been quite underserved (Knowles
& Linn 2003, Sagarin et al. 2002). Researchers do not yet fully understand
how these processes function together in influence settings. Thus, the area is likely to
draw considerable attention in the future.
AUTHORITY AND OBEDIENCE. Individuals are
frequently rewarded for behaving in accordance with the opinions, advice, and
directives of authority figures. Authorities may achieve their influence via several distinct routes, first
articulated by French & Raven (1959) in their seminal work on the bases of social power.
Although the universe of power bases has been challenged, modified, and updated
considerably over the years (see Koslowsky & Schwarzwald 2001), the
distinction between authority based on one's expertise and authority derived
from one's relative position in a hierarchy has remained relevant in
differentiating mere compliance from what is commonly referred to as obedience.
In more recent analyses of the many forms ofinfluence at the disposal of authorities and
other agents, researchers have categorized strategies employing expert power in
a class called soft tactics and approaches utilizing hierarchy-based legitimate
power in a class known as harsh tactics (Koslowsky et al. 2001, Raven et al.
1998). More generally, soft influences originate from factors within the influence agent (e.g., credibility), whereas the
power of harsh influences is derived externally by means of an
existing social structure
(cf. Koslowsky & Schwarzwald 2001).
Several studies have
examined the use of authority and power within organizational settings. For
example, supervisors' usage of primarily soft strategies has been found to
correlate positively with subordinates' job satisfaction ratings, whereas there
are indications that the reverse may be true when predominantly harsh tactics
are employed (Koslowsky et al. 2001, Raven et al. 1998). Authorities who
demonstrate consideration for their subordinates' needs-as opposed to those who
exploit power differences-are also likely to engender a more favorable
compliance rate (Schwarzwald et al. 2001). Moreover, because the level of
volition associated with compliance is a function of the quality of the
treatment subordinates receive (Tyler 1997), authorities stand to benefit
greatly by treating subordinates with fairness and respect. However, it should
be noted that the success of an authority's use of nonforceful measures may
actually be augmented by the additional use of forceful means, so long as the
attitudinal compliance brought about by the nonforceful influence attempt is not undermined (Emans et
al. 2003). In support of this notion, Emans et al. (2003) showed that
supervisors whose compliance-gaining repertoires included the use of both
forceful and nonforceful techniques were most likely to elicit compliance with
their requests.
Most organizations
would cease to operate efficiently if deference to authority were not one of
the prevailing norms. Yet, the norm is so well entrenched in organizational
cultures that orders are regularly carried out by subordinates with little
regard for potential deleterious ethical consequences of such acts (Ashford
& Anand 2003, Brief et al. 2001, Darley 2001). Personnel managers, for
instance, may discriminate based on race when instructed to do so by an
authority figure (Brief et al. 1995), particularly those who are high in
Right-Wing Authoritarianism (Petersen & Dietz 2000).
One illustration of
destructive organizational obedience frequently cited by social psychologists
is the systematic murder of millions of innocent people during the Holocaust.
Over the years, it has been common practice for researchers, teachers, and
textbook authors to refer to Stanley Milgram's (1974) groundbreaking work on
obedience to authority as demonstrative of the principles and processes
underlying the behaviors of seemingly ordinary German citizens (Miller 1995). A
number of scholars have argued that such portrayals misrepresent the true
nature of perpetrator behaviors in the Holocaust. They point to numerous
differences between the obedience demonstrated in the Milgram experiments and
the wanton and deliberate cruelty practiced by many concentration camp
executioners. For example, whereas it is clear that Milgram's participants were
emotionally and attitudinally in opposition to the orders they were given, many
of the Holocaust atrocities were committed willingly and often quite
sadistically (Berkowitz 1999, Goldhagen 1996). Others have stressed that,
unlike Nazi order-givers, the experimenter in the Milgram studies possessed not
only legitimate authority, but expert authority as well (Blass 1999, Darley
1995, Lutsky 1995; but see Elms 1995). Although the movement to redress this
growing concern is gaining considerable momentum, Milgram's experiments in particular
(e.g., Miller 1995), and social psychology in general (see Darley et
al. 2001, Newman & Erber 2002), still provide much insight into the
production and perpetuation of obedience-related malfeasance within
hierarchically based organizations.
It is noteworthy
that few studies of obedience to authority both utilize experimental designs
and employ behavioral dependent measures. This trend is likely the result of
ethical constraints placed on researchers working with human subjects (Elms
1995). One somewhat feasible alternative to ethically questionable obedience
experiments is active role-playing (Meeus & Raaijmakers 1995). This method
is characterized by physically placing role-players in the position of a
would-be participant, and asking them to demonstrate how they believe a genuine
participant would act if the circumstances were real.
The Milgram studies
revealed the potentially harmful consequences of an illegitimate authority
posing as a legitimate authority. Similarly, previous research has shown that
we are also susceptible to those feigning expertise, largely due to our use of
heuristics (see Cialdini 2001) and our perceptions of invulnerability to such
duplicitous manipulations (Sagarin et al. 2002). Sagarin et al. (2002) found
that the most effective treatment for instilling resistance to ads containing
spurious experts was one that demonstrated participants' vulnerability to the
ads, followed by simple rules for identifying fraudulent experts.
SOCIAL NORMS. In addition to authorities, individuals
often look to social norms
to gain an accurate understanding of and effectively respond to social situations,
especially during times of uncertainty (Cialdini 2001). Social norms
have been found to influence a range of behaviors in a myriad of
domains, including recycling (Schultz 1999), littering (Kallgren et al. 2000),
and tax evasion (cf. Kahan 1997). Cialdini and colleagues (e.g., Cialdini et
al. 1991) have argued that a close examination of the seemingly inconsistent
literature on norms and their impact on behavior yields a meaningful
distinction between norms that inform us about what is typically
approved/disapproved (injunctive norms) and those that inform us about what is
typically done (descriptive norms). The impact of these social norms
on both subtle behavior-shaping and more overt compliance-gaining will be
determined by the extent to which each of the norms is focal (Kallgren et al.
2000) and the degree to which the different types of norms are in alignment
(Cialdini 2003).
Investigators have
corroborated the findings of earlier research that relevant norms direct
behavior only when they are in focus. This is true not only for norms outside
of the self, but for personal norms as well; for example, the strength of
individuals' personal norms against littering predicted littering behaviors
only when these individuals focused attention on themselves rather than on
external stimuli (Kallgren et al. 2000). Taken together, the results suggest
that one's actions are relatively unaffected by normative information-even
one's own-unless the information is highlighted prominently in consciousness.
Given that relevant
norms must be salient in order to elicit the proper norm-congruent behavior,
individuals attempting to persuade others to engage in a particular behavior
face the dual challenge of making the norm salient not only immediately
following message reception, but in the future as well. Cialdini and associates
(R.B. Cialdini, D.W. Barrett, R. Bator, L. Demaine, BJ. Sagarin, K.L.v. Rhoads,
& RL. Winter, paper in preparation) maintain that the long-term efficacy of
persuasive communications such as public service announcements is threatened
because normative information becomes less accessible over time. They
hypothesized and experimentally confirmed that linking an injunctive normative
message to a functional mnemonic cue would increase norm accessibility later by
activation of the norm upon perception of the same or a similar cue.
Goal of Affiliation
Humans are
fundamentally motivated to create and maintain meaningful social relationships
with others. For example, implicit in the concept of injunctive norms is the
idea that if we engage in behaviors of which others approve, others will
approve of us, too. Accordingly, we use approval and liking cues to help build,
maintain, and measure the intimacy of our relationships with others. We also
move closer to achieving these affiliation-oriented goals when we abide by
norms of social exchange
with others, such as the norm of reciprocity.
LIKING. One of the clearest implications of our
desire to affiliate with others is that the more we like and approve of them,
the more likely we are to take actions to cultivate close relationships with
them. This may be accomplished via a number of means, including responding
affirmatively to requests for help. Indeed, thesocial influence literature is rife with demonstrations
of the positive relationship between our fondness for a person and the
likelihood of compliance with his or her request (Cialdini & Trost 1998).
For example, physical attractiveness, a predictor of interpersonal liking, has
been demonstrated to influence responding in a number of domains,
ranging from tip earnings (Lynn & Simons 2000) to the likelihood of being
asked for identification in bars (McCaIl 1997).
Researchers have
focused recently on the extent to which heuristics-which generally provide
accurate shortcuts for effective decision-making-lead individuals to respond to
strangers in ways that belie the absence of a truly meaningful relationship between
them. Because we so often rely on the heuristic rule that the more we like
someone with whom we have an existing relationship, the greater should be our
willingness to comply with the request, we tend to use the rule automatically
and unwittingly when the request comes from strangers, as well (Burger et al.
2001). This is even more likely the case under the burdens of a heavy cognitive
load, such as when the request is made face-to-face and is unexpected. Burger
et al. (2001) found that simply being exposed to a person even for a brief
period without any interaction substantially increased compliance with that
person's request. In addition, greater perceived similarity-another cue for
potential friend- or acquaintanceship-has been demonstrated to lead to enhanced
compliance, even when the apparent similarities are based on superficial
matches such as shared names, birthdays, and even fingerprint types (Burger et
al. 2001, 2003). Some caution is warranted in generalizing these results to
both genders, however, because nearly all of the participants were female.
Because of the tendency of females to be more relationship-oriented than males
(Cross & Madson 1997), there is reason to believe that these effects may be
stronger among women than men.
Dolinski et al.
(2001) also argued that certain situational cues activate heuristics that lead
us to treat strangers as if they were friends or acquaintances. The authors
contend that scripts for dealing with strangers or with friends and
acquaintances are activated by the particular mode of communication in which we
are engaged. Specifically, we tend to associate monologues with strangers and
dialogues with closer relationships. In a series of studies, Dolinski and his
colleagues showed that simply engaging people in a short, trivial dialogue
prior to making the target request was sufficient to elevate compliance
relative to a monologue condition ("Hi. I hope you are fine today").
Although the findings suggest that dialogue engagement can be an effective component
of an influence agent's request, topics of high
involvement are likely to be processed more actively and responded to more
deliberately than those of low involvement, allowing for the possibility of a
backfire effect (Dolinski et al. 2001).
Impression management
through ingratiation is another means by which individuals utilize the liking
principle for maximal influence. Research has
demonstrated that even subtle forms of ingratiation, such as remembering a
person's name (Howard et al. 1995, 1997), can potentially shape that person's
response to a request. A great deal of the previous ingratiation research, in
large part focusing on the effects of flattery, made use of an experimental
paradigm in which targets' and observers' judgments of the ingratiator could be
compared (Gordon 1996, Vonk 2002). Investigators have found that targets of
ingratiation tend to view the ingratiator more positively than do onlookers
(Gordon 1996). The traditional explanation for the target-observer difference
has been that the target is motivated to accept the obsequious comments as
genuine praise in order to serve his or her self-esteem. Observers, on the
other hand, can analyze the behavior more critically (e.g., account for
possible ulterior motives) because their feelings of self-worth are not on the
line (Vonk 2002). Once the target has uncritically accepted the ingratiator's
intentions as wholly good-natured, greater affinity for the adulator follows
and leads to increased compliance. Although principles of self-enhancement and
liking are doubtless components of the link between compliments and compliance,
the norm of reciprocation may be another. In some cases, the recipient of a
laudatory remark may comply out of a sense of indebtedness and obligation to
the ingratiator, a hypothesis that remains open to empirical study.
RECIPROCATION. The norm of reciprocation-the rule that
obliges us to repay others for what we have received from them-is one of the
strongest and most pervasive social forces in all human cultures (Gouldner
1960). It helps us build trust with others and pushes us toward equity in our
relationships (Kelln & Ellard 1999). The rule tends to operate most
reliably in public domains, but is so deeply ingrained in most individuals via
socialization that it powerfully directs behavior in private settings as well
(Whatley et al. 1999). Theinfluence of obligations to reciprocate has also
been shown in commercial exchanges. For example, numerous studies have
demonstrated the ability of service workers to harness the potency of the norm
to boost their tip earnings (e.g., Rind & Strohmetz 1999, Strohmetz et al.
2002; see also Cialdini & Goldstern 2002).
DOOR-IN-THE-FACE TECHNIQUE. The norm of
reciprocity has also been used to explain the effectiveness of the
door-in-the-face technique (DITF; Cialdini et al. 1975). Briefly, one employs
the strategy by preceding the request for a truly desired action with a more
extreme request that is likely to get rejected. Cialdini et al. ( 1975)
explained the phenomenon in terms of reciprocal concessions, arguing that the
target feels a normative obligation to reciprocate the influence agent's concession with a concession
of his or her own; specifically, this is accomplished by moving from a position
of noncompliance to one of compliance. Accordingly, the success of the strategy
hinges on the target's perception that the requester has made a legitimate
concession (Cialdini et al. 1975). Researchers have repeatedly found that this
rejection-then-moderation procedure produces a significant increase in
compliance with the target request (Cialdini & Trost 1998; for
meta-analyses, see O'Keefe & Hale 1998, 2001).
The reciprocal
concessions explanation of the DITF phenomenon had been challenged periodically
over the years (e.g., Dillard et al. 1984, Fera et al. 1986), but it seems
there has been a recent resurgence of attempts to account for the data with
alternative theories. Some researchers have pointed to meta-analytic findings
that the size of the concession is not a significant predictor of compliance in
the DITF paradigm (see Fern et al. 1986; O'Keefe & Hale 1998, 2001), which
suggests that this violates one of the core predictions laid out by a
reciprocal concessions model (O'Keefe & Figgé 1997,1999; O'Keefe 1999;
Tusing & Dillard 2000). However, according to the original explanation put
forth by Cialdini et al. (1975; see also Hale & Laliker 1999), because the
target's choice is a dichotomous one-yes or no-the reciprocal concessions
account predicts that any retreat sizeable enough to be perceived as a genuine
concession will activate the mechanism for a concession in return. Thus, once a
certain threshold is met and the target interprets the requester's move as an
authentic concession, increasing the difference between the sizes of the
requests would have little effect on the outcome. O'Keefe (1999) argued against
this explanation, positing that the existence of systematic variation in
participants' personal thresholds would suggest that meta-analyses surveying a
large number of studies should record at least somewhat of an advantage for
DITF conditions employing larger concessions. Even if this were the case,
however, most individual studies (and the meta-analyses that summarize them)
have not been equipped to measure directly one key feature of the reciprocal
concessions explanation: that is, whether participants perceived a genuine
concession in the move to the second request.
The emphasis on
authenticity of the concession is not limited only to the target's perception
that the second request is truly less demanding than the initial request;
authenticity also refers to the target's beliefs regarding the requester's
motives. That is, individuals in a DITF scenario will be less likely to fall
victim to the technique when they have reason to suspect that the requester is
employing a sales device (Mowen & Cialdini 1980). Some authors (O'Keefe
& Figgé 1997, Tusing & Dillard 2000) have argued that the reciprocal
concessions explanation does not speak to findings that the DITF strategy tends
to be more effective when the requests are prosocial in nature (Dillard et al.
1984; O'Keefe & Hale 1998, 2001). However, the foregoing analysis suggests
that targets will be more likely to question the influence agent's motives, to perceive the
apparent concession as illegitimate, and consequently, to refuse to comply when
the request involves noncharitable causes. These assertions are consistent with
the reciprocal concessions approach to the DITF.
Several
investigators have also claimed that the originally proposed model is not
supported because it is silent with respect to the effect of delay between
requests (Dillard et al. 1984, Dolinski et al. 2001). Yet, the reciprocal
concessions explanation does indeed predict that a greater time lapse between
requests will lead to a less successful outcome, a finding reported in
meta-analyses (see O'Keefe & Hale 1998, 2001). Longer delays may reduce the
perception that the second request is a genuine concession, either by
increasing the likelihood that the target will infer an ulterior motive on the
part of the requester, or by making the smaller request seem more like a
separate request rather than a concession (see Mowen & Cialdini 1980).
Furthermore, contrary to the assertions of Dolinski et al. (2001), there is
some evidence that the obligation individuals feel stemming from the norm of
reciprocity does in fact diminish over time, at least for small favors between
strangers (e.g., Burger et al. 1997). Thus, targets should feel less compelled
to reciprocate a concession-even when made in earnest-with a concession of
their own as the time between the two requests grows longer.
O'Keefe & Figgé
(1997, 1999; see also Tusing & Dillard 2000) proposed an alternative
account for the DITF effect based on guilt. They contend that targets feel
guilty after rejecting the initial request, and seek to mollify this negative
affect by agreeing to fulfill the subsequent request. Millar (2002)
demonstrated the potential power of guilt in DITF exchanges by manipulating the
degree to which guilty feelings were induced by the rejection of the larger
request and reduced by the acceptance of the smaller request. The author found
superior compliance rates in the condition characterized by high guilt
induction and high guilt reduction. Yet, if individuals are primarily motivated
to live up to the standards made salient to them once they have refused the
initial appeal and to reduce feelings of guilt, one would expect that
compliance with the second request would be equally effective at fulfilling
these goals irrespective of the person making the second request (Dolinski et
al. 2001). However, the evidence clearly demonstrates that the DITF technique
ceases to be effective when a different person makes the second request
(Cialdini et al. 1975; O'Keefe & Hale 1998, 2001), a finding that
substantially weakens the social responsibility/guilt reduction
explanation.
Dolinski et al.
(2001) posited their own account of the DITF, suggesting that mere dialogue
involvement may be responsible for the technique's success. According to the
dialogue involvement model, simply engaging in the initial exchange should
promote a target's willingness to comply with the influence agent's subsequent request. This
explanation, however, is not supported by research revealing that the strategy
is no longer successful when the second request is the same size as the first
(e.g., Cialdini et al. 1975).
Taken as a whole, it
appears that recently proposed explanations for the DITF effect are not fully
consistent with the available data. This is not to say that multiple factors
never operate in DITF exchanges, nor is it likely that the compulsion to
reciprocate a genuine concession is the driving force behind the strategy's
efficacy in every case. Rather, it is probable that potential mediators such as
self-presentation, perceptual contrast, dialogue involvement, social responsibility,
and guilt reduction may function at some level in DITF scenarios. However, the
data provided by the extant literature still appear to favor a reciprocal
concessions-based account as one of the leading mechanisms underlying observed
DITF effects.
Goal of Maintaining a Positive Self-Concept
People have a strong
need to enhance their self-concepts by behaving consistently with their
actions, statements, commitments, beliefs, and self-ascribed traits (Cialdini
& Trost 1998). This notion provides the basis for much of the recent
research on compliance, particularly with regard to the role of self-perception
processes.
FOOT-IN-THE-DOOR TECHNIQUE. One compliance
strategy designed to take advantage of people's basic desire for consistency is
the foot-in-the-door technique (FITD; Freedman & Fraser 1966). The
procedure involves first asking a target individual to comply with a small
request, typically one that is minimally invasive so that the target is almost
certain to respond affirmatively. After securing compliance, either the initial
requester or an associate of the requester makes a larger, often related
request. The strategy is considered effective when the demanding task's
compliance rates are superior for those who received the initial request as
compared to those who received no earlier request. Freedman & Fraser (1966)
speculated that a major process underlying the FITD effect is one akin to
self-perception (Bern 1972). That is, after agreeing to the initial request,
targets ascribe traits to themselves reflecting their recent actions, and this
change in self-view helps direct future compliance. There has been much debate
regarding the mediators of the effect.
Although researchers
have argued that self-perception cannot account for all of the FITD findings
(see Dillard et al. 1984), the explanation has received much empirical support,
albeit often of an indirect nature (for a meta-analysis, see Burger 1999). For
example, Burger & Guadagno (2003) found indirect support for
self-perception as a mediator of the FITD effect in their investigation of
self-concept clarity. Self-concept clarity is an individual difference measure
that gauges the extent to which a person's self-concept is, among other things,
accessible (cf. Burger & Guadagno 2003; see also Campbell et al. 1996).
Based on the finding that it is easier to manipulate the self-views of those
whose self-concepts are more readily accessible (R.E. Guadagno & J.M. Burger,
paper in preparation), Burger & Guadagno (2003) predicted that only those
with clearer self-concepts would succumb to FITD; the results generally
supported the hypothesis and were congruent with a self-perception account of
FITD effects. Burger's meta-analysis (1999) of 30 years of FITD investigations
yielded a number of other findings consistent with a self-perception
explanation. Among them are that targets are more likely to comply with the
second request when the initial appeal is behaviorally fulfilled (or at least
attempted; see Dolinski 2000), and less likely to comply when the first request
is so large that nearly everyone refuses.
Gorassini &
Olson (1995) have challenged the assertion that self-perception processes could
fully account for the efficacy of the FITD tactic. They noted that because
nearly all of the previous research on the topic failed to measure changes in
self-perception directly, valid conclusions regarding self-perception as a
mediator could not be drawn. In an experiment using private compliance as the
dependent variable-a measure more sensitive to mediation by self-perception
processes than public compliance-the researchers found that increases in
participants' perceptions of their own helpfulness following fulfillment of an initial
request did not lead to increased compliance with a second request. Employing
somewhat more sensitive and reliable measures of self-perception change, Burger
& Caldwell (2003) conducted a conceptually similar study, and found that
participants' compliance rates were in fact mediated by one dimension of a
self-rated helpfulness scale administered immediately after the initial
compliance. One possible explanation for these discrepant outcomes is that
situational variables within each set of experiments may have motivated
participants to be consistent with their own trait attributions to different
extents; individual differences may have played a role as well.
Cialdini et al.
(1995) argued that dispositional tendencies toward consistent responding might
moderate the degree to which individuals behave in line with predictions made
by consistency theories; they developed the Preference for Consistency (PFC)
scale to measure such a construct. The researchers showed that only those who
scored high on the PFC scale complied in accordance with consistency-based
theories, including FITD. They concluded that individuals high in PFC are more
consistent than those low in PFC in that they are more likely to determine
their reactions to novel stimuli by relating the incoming information to
already established information, such as pre-existing attitudes, prior
behaviors, and commitments. Guadagno et al. (2001) found that focusing low-PFC
participants on their prior helpfulness actually reduced the likelihood of
their compliance on the subsequent request. The authors suggest that those low
in PFC may have exhibited the backfire effect because they have a greater
desire to act inconsistently with previous behaviors, specifically when those
prior actions have been made salient.
Together, these
findings both bolster the notion of self-perception as a mediator of the FITD
effect and suggest its potential limitations (Guadagno et al. 2001). The
results of these studies indicate that simply engaging in self-perception
processes may not be sufficient to produce the FITD effect; rather, one must
also have the motivation to be consistent with this self-view (Cialdini et al.
1995, Gorassini & Oison 1995, Guadagno et al. 2001).
Since the
technique's initial demonstration, the archetypical foot-in-the-door study has
involved observing an individual's response to a truly desired request after
the person not only attempts, but also successfully completes, an initial task.
However, Dolinski (2000) demonstrated that the self-inference process could
operate to produce a significant FITD effect even in situations in which one's
earnest attempt to fulfill a request fails. He concluded that the focus of our
self-inferences is on the processes associated with the compliance attempt
itself, rather than on the outcome of that attempt.
It is also
noteworthy that Dolinski (2000) found that both those who succeeded and those
who failed to accomplish the initial favor tended to rate themselves as more
submissive, but not more altruistic, than controls when surveyed later. This is
inconsistent with the results of Gorassini & Olson (1995), in which an
increase in self-rated helpfulness, but no parallel increase in self-rated
submissiveness, was found in a strong FITD manipulation versus a control condition.
Furthermore, Burger & Caldwell (2003) found that enhanced compliance was
related to the Providing Support dimension of participants' self-rated
helpfulness scores, and not those related to Volunteering or Feeling
Compassion. Although the disparities in self-rating scores across these three
studies are less than comparable because of their measurement as well as
methodological differences, it nonetheless underscores the fact that
researchers have yet to uncover the exact nature of the self-inferences that lead
individuals to comply with a subsequent request. Future consideration should be
given to the investigation of the extent to which individuals are focusing on
each of three domains-their general dispositions, their actions, or their
attitudes toward relevant issues (Burger & Caldwell 2003)-when undergoing
self-perception processes in compliance situations.
Of course,
self-perception and consistency motives may not be the only processes mediating
FITD, nor may they even be the strongest (Burger & Caldwell 2003). Burger
(1999) identified several other variables that had bearing on the size and
direction of FITD effects, such as conformity, attributions, and commitments.
In addition, certain factors may cause boomerang effects. For instance,
resistance is especially likely if the same person makes both requests with
little or no delay in between, presumably because the norm of reciprocity
dictates that after the target agrees to a request, it would be out of turn for
the influence agent to make a new one (Burger 1999,
Chartrand et al. 1999). It is quite possible, for example, that Gorassini &
Olson (1995) found no increase in private compliance in the FITD
condition-despite an increase in self-rated helpfulness-because the same
individual (i.e., the experimenter) made both requests within a relatively
short period of time, thereby instigating norm-based resistance to compliance
with the second request.
CONSISTENCY AND COMMITMENT. Individuals are
driven to be consistent not only with their trait self-attributions, but with
their previous behaviors and commitments as well. The extent to which one's
commitments are made actively is one powerful determinant of the likelihood of
request compliance (Cialdini & Trost 1998). For example, Cioffi &
Garner (1996) solicited volunteers for an AIDS awareness project by asking
participants to indicate their decisions on a form in either an active or
passive manner. Irrespective of their choice, participants who made an active
rather than a passive choice took a more extreme position toward their decision
(even weeks later) and were more likely to show up if they had agreed to
volunteer. In support of a self-perception analysis of active commitments, the
authors found that more effortful displays of one's choice spurred individuals
to attribute their decisions to their traits, attitudes, and tendencies (as
opposed to self-presentational concerns) to a much greater extent than those
who made passive commitments.
Public commitments
also tend to be more persistent than private commitments (Cialdini & Trost
1998). Car salespeople regularly utilize strategies, such as the low-ball
technique, that take advantage of our motivation to act consistently with our
prior public commitments. An influence agent employing this tactic first
offers an acceptable deal to the target. Once a target's commitment to the
proposal has been secured, the cost of carrying out the deal is substantially
increased (Cialdini et al. 1978). In the case of car sales, the technique is
successful because prospective buyers face their own commitments to the
requester and perhaps to themselves when deciding whether or not to accept the
modified deal. The success of the low-ball technique has been demonstrated
among equal-status laypeople in nonconsumer domains as well (e.g., Guégen et
al. 2002). Burger & Cornelius (2003) revealed that the public nature of the
commitment is the keystone of the low-ball technique's efficacy. They found
that relative to a control request, a lowball procedure eliciting a public
commitment demonstrated enhanced compliance, whereas compliance rates declined
when the requester made no attempt to obtain a public commitment before
revealing the true cost of request fulfillment.
A core assumption
regarding the success of consistency-based compliance techniques is that
targets act consistently with their self-views and prior commitments in order
to serve the ultimate motivation of maintaining or enhancing their self-esteem.
It stands to reason, then, that individuals whose cultures place less of an emphasis
on self-concept positivity and related maintenance and enhancement goals (such
as Japan; for a review, see Heine et al. 1999) may be less susceptible to
tactics that exploit these motivations. Furthermore, the importance and meaning
of self-consistency as a general notion varies considerably among different
cultures. For example, in cultures characterized by greater levels of
interdependence, people are more likely to view their actions as being driven
by their roles and others' expectations rather than by internal attributes (cf.
Heine & Lehman 1997). In a demonstration of this principle, Cialdini et al.
(1999) examined in two cultures the degree to which compliance decisions are
steered by the desire to act in accordance with one's prior responses to
comparable requests. They found that consistency needs had a greater influence on participants in an individualistic
country (the United States) than in a collectivistic country (Poland); it is
notable, however, that these differences were in large part due to
participants' personal individualistic-collectivistic orientations. Because
much of the field's knowledge of compliance is primarily based on North
American participants, future research in this area is necessary to redress
this imbalance.
CONFORMITY
Conformity refers to
the act of changing one's behavior to match the responses of others. Nearly
half a century ago, Deutsch & Gerard (1955) distinguished between
informational and normative conformity motivations, the former based on the
desire to form an accurate interpretation of reality and behave correctly, and
the latter based on the goal of obtaining social approval from others. The extant
literature has upheld the conceptual independence of each of these motivational
factors (see Cialdini & Trost 1998), although the two are interrelated and
often difficult to disentangle theoretically as well as empirically (David
& Turner 2001). In addition, both accuracy- and affiliation-oriented goals
act in service of a third underlying motive to maintain one's self-concept,
both via self-esteem protection as well as self-categorization processes.
Goal of Accuracy
Research on accuracy
as a central motivation for conformity has examined the phenomenon in some
diverse and relatively unexplored domains. Investigators, for example, have
demonstrated that individuals may conform to information supplied by a group of
confederates when reconstructing their memories for stimuli (Meade &
Roediger 2002, Walther et al. 2002, Wright et al. 2000). As another example,
Castelli et al. (2001) explored the types of people we look to for valid
information under uncertainty. They showed that participants were more likely
to conform to (and implicitly view as more accurate) the objective estimates of
a confederate who earlier used stereotype-consistent (versus
stereotype-inconsistent) traits to describe an outgroup member, even though
they publicly expressed little faith in the confederate's judgments.
Quinn &
Schlenker (2002) proposed that a strong accuracy goal could counteract the normative
pressures individuals face when making a decision for which they are
accountable (i.e., must be prepared to explain their decision) to a set of
people whose views on the issue are known. The dominant response of individuals
in this situation is to conform to the audience's position (Lerner &
Tetlock 1999, Pennington & Schlenker 1999), a consequence that often stems
from the desire to gain the approval of the people to whom the individuals are
answerable (Quinn & Schlenker 2002). The authors theorized that because
being accountable for one's actions tends to highlight the importance of the
task (Lerner & Tetlock 1999) and amplify the salience of one's goals
irrespective of the orientations of those goals (Schlenker & Weigold 1989),
only those primed with a motivation to make accurate decisions and who were
held accountable for their judgments would resist pressures to conform to the
audience's known but flawed decision. The results confirmed the hypothesis.
Although participants in this study were accountable to only a single
individual, it does suggest conditions characterized by accountability and
salient accuracy goals may create the most suitable environment for the
promotion of independent decision-making, even in cases in which the individual
is accountable to an entire group of people and the consensus for an opposing
position is high.
PERCEIVED CONSENSUS. How we react to beliefs held by
others is often contingent on our perceptions of the level of consensus for
those beliefs. Social psychologists
have continued to investigate how individuals differentially process messages
associated with numerical majorities and minorities and to explore the extent
to which normative and informational influences govern motivations to conform to each
type of source. The two most prominent theories, Moscovici's (1980) conversion
theory and Mackie's (1987) objective consensus approach, differ in their
interpretation of the influences exerted by majorities and minorities
in terms of cognitive and motivational processes. Simply put, conversion theory
suggests that majority influence is normative, whereas the objective
consensus account views it as informational.
Recently, Erb et al.
(2002) addressed this apparent incompatibility by considering individuals'
prior attitudes toward the relevant influence topic. The researchers found that when
the target's previously formed opinion is strongly opposed to the message being
conveyed, the recipient's motivation to avoid deviance from the majority group
will hamper message elaboration (unless a target's self-interest is
specifically threatened) (Martin & Hewstone 2001) and instead focus the
individual on the normative concerns of fitting in, a process consistent with
conversion theory. On the other hand, when recipients hold moderately opposing
attitudes toward the message topic, they are more receptive to the position
endorsed by the majority, and therefore more likely to engage in extensive
processing of the message and see the group with the numerically superior
advantage as representing an objective consensus; this finding is congruent
with Mackie's (1987) account. When both the source and the issue were of low
relevance to targets holding no prior attitudes on the subject, the targets
applied little cognitive effort to process the message, often using an accuracy
heuristic favoring the majority (Erb et al. 1998).
Although the topic
has been eliciting greater attention in recent years, the effects of perceived
consensus on individuals' intergroup attitudes and behaviors, such as
prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination, has been a relatively underserved
area of conformity research (Crandall et al. 2002, Stangor et al. 2001).
Crandall et al. (2002) advocated a return to a social normative
approach to study the phenomenon, finding an almost perfect correlation between
individuals' likelihood of expressing or tolerating prejudice and their
perceptions of the extent to which most others approve of those behaviors.
sechrist & Stangor (2001) found that higher prejudiced participants sat at
a greater distance from an African American confederate than did those lower
prejudiced participants; most interesting, however, was the finding that this
difference was heightened when the participants learned that their attitudes
were shared by a clear majority of other individuals.
Presumably,
normative influences were the primary motivational forces
operating in the aforementioned studies, indicating to the participants the
kinds of beliefs that are generally accepted and encouraged by the majority.
However, the perception of a consensus among group members' intergroup
attitudes and behaviors is certain to exert an informational influence as well. Consistent with this
suggestion, researchers have demonstrated that confidence in the accuracy of one's
intergroup beliefs over time is a positively related function of the perceived
level of consensus (cf. Stangor et al. 2001). Other researchers (e.g., Schaller
& Latané 1996) have examined the consensually shared nature of stereotypes
in more dynamic environments. Kenrick et al. (2002) suggest that the kinds of
stereotypes that are most communicable (and therefore most likely to be shared)
are those that provide accurate, functional information relevant to vital social motivations
such as self-protection.
DYNAMICAL SYSTEMS. Much like the majority of social psychological
research, traditional investigations of conformity phenomena have been
dominated by static social influence environments described by relatively
microlevel theories (Vallacher et al. 2003). Recent years, however, have been
marked by an increased emphasis on the processes that drive conformity in more
fluid, complex systems and on the group-level consequences of dynamic behavior
and belief shifts over time. Based on the more unidimensional socialimpact theory (SIT; Latané 1981),
Latané developed dynamic social impact theory (DSIT; 1996) to explain
the higher-order processes that emerge over time from local-level conformity
within multipleperson assemblages of varying sizes, functions, complexities,
and levels of interpersonal interaction. One of the central postulates on which
the theory is founded is that, all else being equal, an individual occupying a
givensocial space will be more likely to conform
to the attitudes, beliefs, and behavioral propensities exhibited by the local
numerical majority than by either the local numerical minority (for exceptions,
see Nowak & Vallacher 2001) or less proximate persons. Influence at the local levels may be
informational, normative, or both. The model predicts four core forms of
self-organization emerging within the aggregate: (a) clustering of attitudes
(or opinions, behavioral tendencies, etc.) in social space; (b) a reduction in diversity
via a consolidation of attitudes; (c) correlations across attitudes possessed
by cluster members; and (d) continuing diversity (i.e., lack of complete
convergence) of attitudes. Regarding this last point, clusters of individuals
sharing the minority attitude rarely dissolve because each member of that
cluster is surrounded by a local numerical majority of individuals holding that
same minority attitude; that is, as a general rule, the self-reinforcing nature
of clusters tends to perpetuate their existence once they are formed.
Computer
simulations, the most common methodology utilized to assess the validity of the
theory's assertions, have provided much support for DSIT and related dynamical
systems theories (Nowak & Vallacher 1998). Experimental, archival, and
field study data also confirm the predictions laid out by these models
(Bourgeois 2002). Dynamical systems theories have also successfully modeled
large-scale societal transitions, such as the economic and political
transformations that occurred in Poland after the fall of Communism (Nowak
& Vallacher 2001). Recent efforts to integrate dynamical systems and
evolutionary psychological perspectives have also proved fruitful in
understanding the emergence of both universal as well as culture-specific
functional social norms
(Kenrick et al. 2002), an area that will likely be of burgeoning interest tosocial psychologists in the future.
AUTOMATIC ACTIVATION. Up to this point, we have reported
on conformity research in which the motivation to conform to others is
initiated, at least to some degree, within the target's awareness. Conformity
may also be the product of the less mindful activation of accuracy- or
affiliation-oriented goals, providing an adaptive shortcut that maximizes the
likelihood of effective action with minimal expense to one's cognitive
resources (Chartrand & Bargh 1999). Epley & Gilovich (1999)
demonstrated that individuals primed with words conceptually related to
conformity were more likely than those primed with neutral words to adhere to
subjective evaluations made by a group of confederates. Participants primed
with nonconformity terms, however, were no more likely to deviate from the
confederates' responses than those primed with neutral terms. Yet, in a
theoretically similar experiment, Pendry & Carrick (2001 ) found that
participants primed with a nonconformist association (skinhead punk) or a
conformist association (accountant) were respectively less or more likely to
conform to others' objective judgments relative to a control; but the effects
of the nonconformist prime were stronger. The observed asymmetries in priming
effects both within and between the two studies suggests that future
investigations into the automatic activation of conformity-related goals should
give careful consideration to participants' semantic interpretations of the
stimuli used to represent intended priming constructs.
Goal of Affiliation
BEHAVIORAL MIMICRY
Interest has resurged in a conformity phenomenon known as behavioral mimicry,
which appears to operate completely outside of conscious awareness. Also dubbed
the chameleon effect, the term describes behavior matching of postures, facial
expressions, vocal characteristics, and mannerisms that occurs between two or
more individuals (Chartrand & Bargh 1999).
Chartrand &
Bargh (1999) found that participants nonconsciously conformed their facial
expressions and mannerisms to closely mirror a confederate's gestures. In
addition, individuals exposed to an interaction partner who mimicked their
behaviors increased their affinity for that person, which suggests that the
process is functional in building rapport and promoting the development of social relationships
(Chartrand & Bargh 1999; see also Hess et al. 1999). The authors argued
that the mediating mechanism responsible for the effect is the
perception-behavior link (see Dijksterhuis & Bargh 2001). That is,
individuals' perceptual representations of others' behaviors nonconsciously and
directly activate mannerism-specific behavioral representations that manifest
themselves in the individuals' mimicking actions. Thus, behavior matching is
more likely to occur in circumstances that enhance a would-be imitator's
attentional focus on others (Gump & Kulik 1997) and less likely to occur in
situations that diminish external focus (Sanchez-Burks 2002) or specifically
motivate internal focus (Johnston 2002).
Although the
evidence suggests that the direct link from perception to behavior operates
irrespective of the motivation to affiliate (Chartrand & Bargh 1999), Lakin
& Chartrand (2003) reasoned that the effects of behavioral mimicry might be
amplified in circumstances in which that goal was activated. The researchers
triggered individuals' affiliation goals via either explicit (expected
interaction) or implicit (priming) methods. They found that regardless of
whether the participants were consciously aware of these goals, those motivated
to affiliate mimicked the behaviors of a confederate to a greater extent than
those in the control condition. Furthermore, a second study revealed that the
chameleon effect and its subsequent impact on rapport building were augmented
when participants' nonconscious goals to affiliate were first thwarted. Thus,
it appears likely that relationship-oriented objectives do play a part in many
of our everyday experiences with behavioral mimicry. Lakin & Chartrand
(2003) proposed that ephemeral affiliation desires briefly strengthen the
perception-behavior link because of increased attention to relevant
environmental stimuli, an explanation that can be extended to more chronic
affiliative goals as well (Chartrand & Bargh 1999).
GAINING SOCIAL APPROVAL. Unlike the
subtleties characteristic of behavioral mimicry, individuals often engage in
more conscious and deliberate attempts to gain the social approval
of others, to build rewarding relationships with them, and in the process, to
enhance their self-esteem. Conformity offers such an opportunity, although the
extent to which the phenomenon is not only socially prescribed, but also
normatively embraced, differs across cultures. In a meta-analysis of conformity
studies employing Asch-like line judgment tasks, Bond & Smith (1996) showed
that residents of collectivist countries were more inclined to conform to the
estimates of a group of confederates than were residents of individualistic
countries. Similarly, Cialdini et al. (1999) found that when considering
whether to comply with a request, participants were more likely in a
collectivistic country (Poland) than in an individualistic country (the United
States) to base their decisions on the actions of their peers. Kim & Markus
(1999) argued that cultures assign very different meanings to the concepts of
conformity and nonconformity; specifically, nonconformity represents deviance
in East Asian cultures but unique-ness in Western cultures. The authors
demonstrated that the culturally assigned meanings attached to these concepts
are evident in each culture's respective magazine ads, and manifested
themselves in participants' preferences and choices for objects. For example,
when asked to make a selection out of an array containing pens of two
colors-one color in the majority and the other color in the minority-East
Asians tended to pick the pen characterized by the majority color, whereas
Americans were inclined to choose the pen marked by the less common color.
Researchers have
also continued to investigate the extent to which affiliation and self-image
enhancement goals are activated and strengthened when an individual's
self-esteem is threatened by the prospect (or actual occurrence) of not fitting
in with the group. Tafarodi et al. (2002) argued that racial minorities who
possess bicultural identities and who are oriented toward personal cultural
integration with or assimilation by the host culture carry with them the burden
of knowing that their physical appearance may designate them for socialexclusion by the majority. They
reported that Chinese Canadian participants were more likely to conform their
subjective judgments of artwork to those made by European Canadians (but not
other Chinese Canadians) only after viewing their own reflections in a mirror;
the data suggest normative motives, in particular, had been activated. Williams
et al. (2000) demonstrated the potent influence of overt social exclusion
over the Internet, . a domain whose inherent anonymity suggests the negative
effects of ostracism might be attenuated. Despite the potentially mitigating
role of privacy, the authors nonetheless found that participants who were
ignored in a virtual ball toss game were more likely to report lower
self-esteem and a greater need for belongingness, and conformed more to the
judgments of a completely different group in a later task. It is also clear
that individuals need not suffer rejection nor ridicule from others firsthand
in order to actively (but not necessarily consciously) pursue goals related to social approval
and self-esteem via conformity. For example, in one study, participants who
watched a videotape in which a person humorously ridiculed another were more
inclined than those who viewed other scenes (i.e., no humorous ridicule or a
person engaging in humorous self-ridicule) to match their opinions to those of
other ostensible participants (Janes & Olson 2000). Taken together, these
results suggest that even when not directly, personally, or publicly the target
of others' disapproval, individuals may be driven to conform to restore their
sense of belonging and their self-esteem.
Goal of Maintaining a Positive Self-Concept
As we have already
described, people are frequently motivated to conform to others' beliefs and
behaviors in order to enhance, protect, or repair their self-esteems. Following
this logic, one way to combat conformity behavior might be to affirm
individuals' self-concepts. Accordingly, one study revealed that individuals
who focused on a fundamental foundation of their self-worth, such as a
selfattribute, were less likely to conform later to others' opinions than were
control condition participants or those who focused on an external source of
self-esteem, such as an achievement (Arndt et al. 2002).
Deviating from the
attitudes and actions of others at times may also act in service of these
self-esteem-related goals by helping to provide individuals with a sense of
uniqueness and personal identity (Blanton & Christie 2003, Kim & Markus
1999, Nail et al. 2000). Yet, individuals also maintain positive
self-assessments by identifying with and conforming to valued groups (Brewer
& Roccas 2001, Pool et al. 1998). This latter point provides the basis for
the self-categorization perspective on majority and minority influence, as well as recent research on
deindividuation effects on conformity.
MAJORITY AND MINORITY INFLUENCE. The extent to which
one identifies with a message source-be it a majority or a minority-is a
significant factor in determining the information processing strategies one
employs as well as the outcome of an influence attempt (David & Turner 2001). One
view of majority and minorityinfluence that appears to be garnering
increasing interest and support is the self-categorization perspective (Turner 1985).
Self-categorization theory holds that the conventional distinction between
informational and normative influence creates a false dichotomy because the
two processes are interrelated in most cases; normativeness implies accuracy,
and vice versa (David & Turner 2001). The theory posits that individuals
categorize themselves at varying degrees of abstraction, and use their social identities
to reduce uncertainty when faced with prospective group conflict. In support of
self-categorization considerations, the classic effects of majority and
minority influence have been found only in situations in
which the source is an ingroup member. When they are outgroup members,
irrespective of source status, participants tend to engage in no attitude
change (Alvaro & Crano 1997) or to move their opinions in the direction
opposite of the advocated position (David & Turner 1996).
David & Turner
(1999) argued that when an ingroup minority attempts to persuade a target, the
message recipient becomes pressured to provide a direct and public response
within a short period. The situational forces that characterize the interaction
highlight for the target the divergence between the ingroup majority position,
which connotes correctness, and the argument advanced by the ingroup minority.
When the immediacy and public nature of the circumstances is no longer
pressing, and the salience of that prior conflict wanes, the target's frame of
reference expands to incorporate the outgroup, leading the target to perceive
the ingroup minority as similar to the self. The target is then more likely to
manifest these perspective changes (and the subsequent influence of the ingroup minority) on delayed,
private, and less direct measures. Several studies yielded indirect evidence
consistent with their account (David & Turner 1999).
Also based on the
notion that targets often share a common identity with the minority group,
Alvaro & Crano (1997) suggested that an ingroup minority provokes indirect
change-that is, change in a target's attitude toward matters related to the
focal issue, but not toward the focal issue itself-because the message
recipient (a) elaborately processes the information because of its distinctive
source, (b) wishes to avoid identification with the source, (c) is motivated not
to denigrate the source or counterargue the message in the name of ingroup
solidarity, and (d) experiences an imbalance in the system of beliefs
surrounding his or her focal attitude. The target works within these
constraints to resolve the destabilization of the relevant cognitive
constellation by changing his or her attitude on interrelated issues rather
than on the focal issue, which reduces tension by restoring stability to the
belief structure (Alvaro & Crano 1997). Crano & Chen (1998) proposed
that this shift in related attitudes would provoke a further cognitive
imbalance between the newly changed related attitudes and the unmoved focal
attitude; this cognitive incongruence would be redressed over time by
eventually changing one's focal attitude to comport with the recently shifted
attitudes. Crano and colleagues (Alvaro & Crano 1997, Crano & Chen
1998) found strong correlational support for these hypotheses.
DEINDIVIDUATION EFFECTS. Self-categorization
theory has also been offered as an explanation for conformity-related
deindividuation phenomena in the form of the Social Identity model for Deindividuation
Effects (SIDE; Reicher et al. 1995). The SIDE model distinguishes itself from
classical deindividuation accounts in that "responsiveness to a group norm
is not a mindless or irrational process reflecting a reduced sense of self...
but may be a conscious and rational process relating to a meaningful sense of
identity" (Spears et al. 2001, p. 336). In support of the predictions laid
out by the SIDE model, a meta-analysis conducted by Postmes & Spears (1998)
revealed that rather than engage in antinormative activities, individuals
subjected to deindividuation procedures instead conformed their behaviors to
local, situation-specific norms defined by the group identity.
Computer-mediated
communication, a context capable of creating anonymity and physical isolation,
has been the favored paradigm for investigating the SIDE model (Spears et al.
2001). Using this setting, Postmes et al. (2001) showed that members of
anonymous groups unwittingly primed with a particular group norm were more
likely to follow (and socially transmit) that norm than were members of
identifiable groups, an effect mediated by their identification with the group.
It is noteworthy, however, that these behaviors are related to cognitive
processes rather than strategic motives, in which self-presentational concerns
would be paramount. Thus, the differential effects of anonymity and
identifiability may be reversed-that is, identifiable individuals may be more
likely to adhere to group norms than anonymous individuals-when group members
face socialsanctions for norm deviance
(Sassenberg & Postmes 2002).
Visually anonymous
groups have also been found to engage in greater group-related self-categorization,
which serves to augment affiliative factors such as group attraction both
directly and indirectly (Lea et al. 2001 ; but see Sassenberg & Postmes
2002). In further support of the SIDE account, common-identity groups (in which
members perceive a common social identity with the entire group)
exhibit greater group salience and are more likely to induce conformity to
group norms than are common-bond groups (characterized by bonds between
individual group members) when members are anonymous (Sassenberg 2002); some
evidence suggests that the opposite may be true when members are identifiable
(Spears et al. 2001).
CONCLUSION
In our review of the
current literature, we emphasized three core motivations that provide the bases
for targets' responses to influence attempts: accuracy, affiliation, and
the maintenance of a positive self-concept. For clarity and ease of treatment,
we associated each social influence-related
phenomenon with whichever goal appeared to be the principal driving force
underlying the occurrence of that phenomenon. However, it should be noted that
targets' behaviors often serve multiple goals. For example, self-categorization
theory holds that conforming to valued ingroup members may fulfill all three
goals. We also examined the extent to which targets were mindful of the
activation of these goals and of external influences in general, finding that recent
research has tended to favor social influence processes that are subtle, indirect,
heuristic-based, and outside of awareness. This is consistent with the recent
movement in social psychology
toward the demonstration of nonconscious goal activation and automaticity in
everyday life (e.g., Bargh & Chartrand 1999). We expect this trend will
persist in future years.
It is noteworthy
that although this review has focused almost exclusively on recent developments
in the areas of compliance and conformity, many of the field's classic
investigations are relevant in today's research, albeit in different forms. A
great deal of empirical work continues to explore the mediators and moderators
of traditional compliance tactics, such as the foot-in-the-door and the
door-in-the-face techniques. The early work on conformity conducted by Asch
(1956) and Deutsch & Gerard (1955) has made a lasting contribution to our
understanding of how multiple goals operate in social influence settings. And Milgram's (1974)
research on obedience to authority continues to spur debate on several levels,
including interpretation of the original results, questions of external validity,
ethical concerns, and issues relating to the presentation of the material to
others.
Although social influence research appears to be firmly embedded
in its historical roots, it has not remained stagnant. Investigators have
employed new methodologies to clarify the mechanisms operating in traditional
phenomena, proposed integrative theories and models of social influence (see Nail et al. 2000, MacDonald et
al. 2003, Vallacher et al. 2003), and begun to examine relatively unexplored
topics, such as resistance-relatedinfluence strategies, dynamical systems, and
cross-cultural research. In sum, the evidence suggests that scholarly work in
compliance and conformity research will be a source of clarification,
innovation, and lively deliberation for years to come.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Preparation of this
chapter was supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research
Fellowship provided to the second author. We gratefully acknowledge Jenessa
Shapiro, Jon Maner, and Christopher Wilbur for their very valuable comments on
an earlier version of the manuscript.
The Annual Review of
Psychology is online at http://psych.annualreviews.org
Please reference to source, this
paper for note only
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