SOCIAL INFLUENCES - A general definition is that it involves efforts by one or more people to change the behavior, attitudes, or feelings

of one or more others (Cialdini, 2000). -refers to the ways in people affected by real and imagined pressures from others (Kiesler & Kiesler, 1969) - involves the exercise of social power by a person or group to change the attitudes or behaviour of others in particular direction(Franzoi, 1996). TYPES OF SOCIAL INFLUENCE (Nail & others, 2000) 1. Compliance is when people appear to agree with others, but actually keep their dissenting opinions private. Is the changes in behaviour that are elicited by direct requests. The compliance strategies we use depend on how well we know a person , on our status and relationship, on our personality, culture and the nature of the request (Bisanz and Rule, 1989). 2. Identification is a psychological process whereby the subject assimilates an aspect, property, or attribute of the other and is transformed, wholly or partially, by the model the other provides. It is by means of a series of identifications that the personality is constituted and specified (Pontalis, 1973). is the changing of attitudes or behaviors due to the influence of someone that is liked and respected (Kelman, 1958); 3. Internalization - internalization involves the integration of attitudes, values, standards and the opinions of others into one's own identity or sense of self (Poulton, 2001). It also is when people accept a belief or behavior and agree both publicly and privately. CONFORMITY Conformity is a change in behavior or belief as the result of real or imagined group pressure when there is no direct request to comply with the group nor any reason to justify the behaviour change (Zimbardo & Lieppe, 1991). It is the tendency to change our perceptions, opinions or behaviour in ways that are consistent with group norms (Brehm and Kaassin, 1996).. When people conform, their behaviour or beliefs become similar to those of the group. *Several varieties of conformity consider three: 1. Compliance - conformity that involves publicly acting in accord with an implied or explicit request while privately disagreeing. 2. Acceptance- conformity that involves both acting and believing in accord with social pressure. 3. Obedience - acting in accord with a direct order or command. CONFORMITY EXPERIMENT SOLOMON ASCH Experimental Studies Asch (1951) found that participants would even give answers which they knew to be untrue, rather than ones which deviated from the views being expressed by others. The task in Aschs studies involved judging which line from a set of three was the same length as a stimulus line; and it was clearly apparent what each correct answer was. FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE IN CONFORMITY Group size - the larger the group, the greater the number of people who behave in some specific way, the greater our tendency to conform and do as they do. Unanimity - conformity is most likely to occur when stooges are unanimous in their answers. Task difficulty, ambiguity and familiarity with task. If a group is not united, there is a decrease in conformity (Asch, 1995, Moris & Miller 1975). Gender and other individual demands: When conformity/independence is made public, men are less likely to conform. Cohesiveness - refers to the forces exerted on a group that push its members close together (Cartwright & Zander 1960;festinger 1950); the extent to which we are attracted to a social group and want to belong to it. If a group is highly cohesive, its individual members are tightly linked and support each other. Therefore, an individual within a group is susceptible to the influence of the group and will be attracted to the idea of remaining a member of it. Type of social norms - This refers to the nature of the expected belief, attitude, or behaviour; an expected standard of behavior and beliefs established and enforced by a group. OBEDIENCE TO AUTHORITY EXPERIMENT MILGRAM Obedience is the performance of an action in response to a direct order. Usually the orders come from a person of high status or authority. It is assumed that without such an order the person would not have acted in this way. It occurs when you are told to do something (authority), whereas conformity happens through social pressure (the norms of the majority). Social psychologist Stanley Milgram researched the effect of authority on obedience. He concluded people obey either out of fear or out of a desire to appear cooperative--even when acting against their own better judgment and desires. Milgrams classic yet controversial experiment illustrates people's unwillingness to confront those who abuse power. FACTORS THAT AFFECT OBEDIENCE Social contract - is when we obey orders given to us by a superior without questioning their authority. Proximity - This term is used to define how our behaviors are affected by other people, mainly how the physical distance between each other affect us. How far away we work from each other or live from each other. If you are told to do something by a person in authority you are less likely to carry this out the further away they are.

Fear of punishment - one of the main reason disciplines is maintained is because the person being ordered is likely to be fearful of being disciplined if they choose to disobey the orders given to them. Gender- it has been suggested that women comply/conform/ obey more readily than men. It is also possible that the reason for females being apparently more susceptible to social pressure is that, generally, females tend to hold lower status than males. Women conform more than man on masculine task and in face to face settings but not on neutral gender task or in private settings.

PERSUASION Persuasion is a symbolic process in which communicators try to convince other people to change their attitudes or behaviors regarding an issue through the transmission of a message in an atmosphere of free choice (Perloff (2003). Methods of transmitting persuasive messages can occur in a variety of ways, including verbally and nonverbally via television, radio, Internet or face-to-face communication. CENTRAL ROUTE TO PERSUASION - the process in which a person thinks carefully about a communication and is influenced by the strengths of its arguments; it occurs when interested people focus on the arguments and respond with favorable thoughts. PERIPHERAL ROUTE TO PERSUASION the process in which a person does not think carefully about a communication and instead influenced by superficial cues.; occurs when people are influenced by incidental cues, such as a speakers attractiveness.

GROUP INFLUENCE GROUP - two or more people who, for longer than a few moments, interact with and influence one another and perceive one another as us. SOCIAL FACILITATION - the tendency of people to perform simple or well-learned tasks better when others are present. the finding that the presence of others enhances performance on easy tasks but impairs performance on difficult tasks. the enhancement of dominant responses due to the presence of other (Baumeister, 2011). SOCIAL LOAFING - the tendency for people to exert less effort when they pool their efforts toward a common goal than when they are individually accountable; group-induced reduction in individual output when performers effort are pooled, and thus, cannot be individually judge(Myers, 2010) . DEINVIDUATION - loss of self-awareness and evaluation apprehension; occurs in group situations that foster responsiveness to group norms, good or bad; the loss of a persons sense of individuality and the reduction of normal constraints against deviant behaviour (Brehm, 1996). Important factors in deinviduation (Kugihara, 2001) 1. Group size - according to the deindividuation theory, the size of the group has a direct effect on anonymity. Therefore, the participants in a group that is larger in size will feel more anonymous and this characteristic will cause an increase in their antisocial response to out groups. 2. Diffused Responsibility - that the individual has an alteration in their cognition from being dominated by personal identity to being dominated by social identity while in a group. This results in the individual losing their sense of responsibility and makes them more likely to do things they normally wouldnt do while alone. 3. Anonymity - when a person feels anonymous they are more likely to disregard social norms and sometimes even morals and do certain things that they wouldnt normally do if they were exposed. GROUP THINKING - The mode of thinking that persons engage in when concurrence-seeking becomes so dominant in a cohesive in-group that it tends to override realistic appraisal of alternative courses of action. A group decision making style characterized by an excessive tendency among group members to seek concurrence. According to Irving Janis(1982) the culprit of groupthink is that emerges when the need for agreement takes priority over the motivation to obtain accurate knowledge and to make appropriate decisions (Franzoi, 1996). Janis has documented eight symptoms of groupthink: Illusion of invulnerability Creates excessive optimism that encourages taking extreme risks. Collective rationalization Members discount warnings and do not reconsider their assumptions. Belief in inherent morality Members believe in the rightness of their cause and therefore ignore the ethical or moral consequences of their decisions. Stereotyped views of out-groups Negative views of enemy make effective responses to conflict seem unnecessary. Self-censorship Doubts and deviations from the perceived group consensus are not expressed. Illusion of unanimity The majority view and judgments are assumed to be unanimous. Self-appointed mindguards Members protect the group and the leader from information that is problematic or contradictory to the groups cohesiveness, view, and/or decisions. REFERENCES Brehm, S. & Kassin, S.(1996). Social Psychology. Houghton Mifflin Company; USA Anzoi, S.(1996). Social Psychology. Times Mirror Company;USA Myers, D. (2010). Social Psychology. 10TH Edition. New York: Mc Graw Hill. By: Arboleda, Daniel John; Luceno, Hanna Grace; Daria, Ma. Kathlene