Psychology Degree Social Influence and Behavior 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Robert Cialdini's principle of 'social proof' states that people are more likely to comply when:
- An expert endorses the request
- They owe the requester a favor
- They observe similar others doing it (Correct answer)
- The request is made publicly
Correct answer: They observe similar others doing it
Social proof relies on the heuristic that if many similar people are doing something, it is probably the correct behavior.
Question 2: In Sherif's autokinetic effect studies, convergence of group estimates best demonstrated:
- Obedience to authority
- Informational social influence (Correct answer)
- Normative social influence
- Reactance
Correct answer: Informational social influence
When the situation was ambiguous, participants used others' judgments as information to form their own, illustrating informational influence.
Question 3: The 'door-in-the-face' technique involves:
- Starting with a tiny request before escalating
- Making a large request first, then a smaller one (Correct answer)
- Repeating a request until compliance
- Framing a request as a favor
Correct answer: Making a large request first, then a smaller one
After refusing an unreasonably large request, people feel obligated to comply with a more moderate follow-up request.
Question 4: Deindividuation most commonly increases antisocial behavior because it reduces:
- Self-awareness and accountability (Correct answer)
- Group cohesion
- Conformity pressure
- Cognitive dissonance
Correct answer: Self-awareness and accountability
When people feel anonymous in crowds, their self-monitoring decreases and they are more likely to act on impulsive or group-sanctioned behaviors.
Question 5: Which finding from Asch's line-judgment studies is considered most surprising?
- Participants were more accurate with written answers
- Participants conformed even when the correct answer was obvious (Correct answer)
- Participants performed better alone than in groups
- Larger groups produced less conformity
Correct answer: Participants conformed even when the correct answer was obvious
The shocking aspect was that people denied clear perceptual evidence to match a unanimous but incorrect group, showing the power of normative pressure.
Question 6: Reactance theory predicts that when people feel their freedom is threatened, they will:
- Conform more to social norms
- Become more motivated to reclaim the threatened freedom (Correct answer)
- Seek approval from authority figures
- Reduce cognitive dissonance
Correct answer: Become more motivated to reclaim the threatened freedom
Psychological reactance motivates people to reassert autonomy, often by doing the very thing they were told not to do.
Question 7: In the context of social influence, 'idiosyncrasy credits' refer to:
- A minority's advantage due to consistent dissent
- Accumulated goodwill that allows group members to later deviate (Correct answer)
- A leader's special authority to change norms
- Rewards given for unique contributions
Correct answer: Accumulated goodwill that allows group members to later deviate
Hollander's concept holds that conforming members build up credits they can later 'spend' to deviate without losing group standing.
Psychology Degree Social Influence and Behavior 3
Robert Cialdini's principle of 'social proof' states that people are more likely to comply when: