Social Influence and Group Processes
Social Influence and Group Processes
This domain tests how others change our behaviour and how groups function. Expect conformity, obedience, compliance, minority influence, group structure, social facilitation, social loafing, group polarisation, groupthink and conflict resolution.
Core rules
- Conformity is changing behaviour to match group norms; Asch showed that unambiguous judgements can be swayed by unanimous peers.
- Obedience is following an authority command; Milgram showed situational pressure can override personal values.
- Compliance techniques include foot-in-the-door, door-in-the-face and low-ball; they differ from obedience because no authority command is central.
- Groups have norms, roles, status and cohesiveness; social facilitation improves simple or well-learned tasks before an audience, while social loafing reduces individual effort in pooled tasks.
- Group polarisation shifts group decisions toward a more extreme initial tendency; groupthink is defective consensus-seeking that suppresses dissent.
- Conflict can be reduced by superordinate goals, communication, negotiation and intergroup contact under supportive conditions.
Worked example
A committee favours a risky project. The leader states support first, members echo, no one raises doubts, and the minutes record unanimous approval. This fits groupthink: pressure for consensus suppresses realistic appraisal. A remedy is to appoint a devil's advocate, collect anonymous opinions before discussion, and invite outside review. The reasoning distinguishes groupthink (defective process) from group polarisation (shift to a more extreme position).
Traps that cost marks
- Confusing conformity with obedience or compliance.
- Calling any group effort social loafing; evaluation and task meaningfulness matter.
- Treating group polarisation as simply becoming cautious.
- Assuming group cohesion always improves decisions.