Compliance and Conformity - Cialdini et al.
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 important research:
Milgram’s research (1974) on ‘Work on Obedience to Authority’.
Freedman’s & Fraser’s research (1966) on seminal investigation of the foot-in-the-door technique (an
example of compliance gaining without overt pressure)
Asch’s conformity experiments (1956)
Although all three lines of research have been prominent in stimulating decades of insightful inquiries into the
nature of compliance and conformity, in recent years scholars have been inclined to explore topics more in line
with the latter approach; they concentrated their efforts on examining social influence processes that are
subtle, indirect and unconscious.
This chapter focuses on the extent to which three central motivations (to be accurate, to affiliate and to
maintain a positive self-concept) drive targets' cognitions and behaviours in the areas of compliance and
conformity.
Compliance
A particular kind of response to a particular kind of communication (request). This request may be explicit,
as in the direct solicitation of funds in a door-to-door campaign, or it may be implicit. But in all cases, the target
recognizes that he or she is being urged to respond in a desired way.
Goal of Accuracy
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 great importance, particularly to targets of
compliance-gaining attempts. One inaccurate perception or behaviour could mean the difference between
getting a bargain and being duped. There are several influence-techniques to which people react differently:
1. Affect and Arousal
This is an influence technique where many researchers have 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. Individuals alleviate feelings of shame and fear via
public compliance and feelings of guilt and pity via private compliance.
Searching for a broader perspective on the role of affect in compliance scenarios, Forgas argued that the
conditions under which affect mediates the processing of and responses to requests can be explained by the
Aim model: Affect Infusion Model. 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. 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. It focuses on processes that occur while an individual is experiencing a
transient emotion or set of emotions. Dolinsky & Nawrat were founders of the Fear-then-Relief procedure. This
procedure states that people who first experienced anxiety and then relief are more likely to comply to a
request then people who continued feeling anxious or then people who never felt anxious.
2. The that’s not all technique
This is like the fear-then-relief procedure: targets in compliance situations are often burdened with the task of
correctly comprehending, and responding to requests in a relatively short time, and therefore lack the luxury of
entirely deliberate and rational decision making.
, Social Influence
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. Influence agents utilize this technique by
presenting a target with an initial request, followed by an almost immediate sweetening of the deal, before the
message recipient has an opportunity to respond. Thus, by first elevating someone’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. This technique creates the appearance of a bargain.
3. Resistance
Following the work of Polock et al., some researchers have placed the that’s not all tactic among a class of
influence strategies referred to as Disrupt-then-Reframe techniques. The DTR technique operates by disrupting
an individual’s understanding of and resistance to an influence attempt and reframing the persuasive message
or request so that the individual is left more vulnerable to the proposition. The procedure is thought to work by
disturbing the evaluation stage of Gilbert’s two stage model for message and situation comprehension. This
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 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).
4. Authority and obedience
This technique is based on the fact that individuals are frequently rewarded for behaving in accordance with
the opinions, advice and directives of authority figures. In recent analyses of the many forms of influence 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. Soft tactics come from within the influence agent and harsh tactics are derived externally by means of
an existing social structure. The Milgram studies revealed the potentially harmful consequences of an
illegitimate authority posing as a legitimate authority.
5. Social norms
This is the last influence-technique in goal accuracy. 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. There are two types of norms: injunctive norms and descriptive norms. Injunctive norms inform
us about what is typically approved or disapproved. Descriptive norms tell us more about what is typically done.
Given that relevant norms must be salient in order to elicit the proper norm congruent behaviour, individuals
attempting to persuade others to engage in a particular behaviour face the dual challenge of making the norm
salient not only immediately following message reception, but in the future as well.
Goal of Affiliation
Humans are fundamentally motivated to create and maintain meaningful social relationships with others.
There are several factors that influence this relationship:
1. Liking
This is one of the clearest implications of our desire to affiliate with others. The more we like and approve of
others, the more likely we are to take actions to cultivate close relationships with them. The more we like
someone, the greater is our willingness to comply with the request. Researchers have focused recently on the
extent to which heuristics (generally provide accurate shortcuts for effective decision making) lead individuals
response to people.
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 analyse the behaviour more critically because their feelings of self-worth are not on the line.
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