Exam 8: Conformity and Obedience: Influencing Behavior

Pierre joins the other concertgoers in giving the symphony a standing ovation, even though he thought the performance was merely adequate. The next morning, Pierre confides to his girlfriend that the performance was "satisfactory, but not overwhelming." In joining the standing ovation, Pierre displayed what kind of conformity?

Injunctive norms tend to be more powerful than descriptive norms because they are based on __________.

In order for Burger (2009) to conduct a study replicating Milgram's work on obedience, he had to modify Milgram's procedures. Which of the following is one of the modifications he made?

Felicia is initially the only member of the jury who believes that the defendant is innocent. After hearing and debating Felicia's arguments, the jury unanimously declares the defendant not guilty. The jurors' decision will most likely be characterized by __________.

Recall that Milgram conducted a variation on his original obedience experiment. In this variation, there were two confederates in addition to the participant. When the participant threw the switch at 150 volts, one of the confederates refused to continue, even though the experimenter commanded him or her to do so. In this variation, only about 10 percent (compared to about 65 percent in the original study) went to the highest shock level. This experimental variation demonstrated the power of __________ in eliciting obedience.

Results from a recent fMRI study replicated Asch's line judgment study. The results of the fMRI suggest that when participants judged rotated figures and stated a correct answer when the others around them unanimously stated an incorrect answer, the area of the brain that was active was the __________.

In all likelihood, participants in Milgram's obedience experiments (conducted in the 1960s and 1970s) were willing to administer increasingly severe shocks to a confederate learner because they were concerned that the experimenter would be disappointed or perhaps even angry with them. Such concerns reflect the power of __________ to induce obedience to authority.

Based on the studies conducted by Nolan and colleagues (2008) and Goldstein and colleagues (2008), which approach seems to be most effective at motivating people to behave in ways that are more environmentally friendly?

Give examples from your life of the two types of social norms. Be sure to include a definition of each.

It is likely that participants in Stanley Milgram's obedience experiments (conducted in the 1960s and 1970s) were willing to administer increasingly severe shocks to a confederate learner because when confronted with a confusing, unfamiliar, and upsetting situation, they would turn to the experimenter for cues as to how to proceed. This speculation in essence identifies __________ as a source of participants' destructive obedience.

Dr. Rashid is an expert environmentalist. After his recent lecture, he asked that attendees sign a petition to support blocking construction of a dam near his home in Illinois. What most likely happened with his petition?

Recall that in a field experiment described in the text, participants were more likely to properly dispose of a handbill left on their windshields when they saw a confederate pick up and dispose of a fast food bag. The researchers suggest that the role of the confederate in this study was to __________.

The atrocities at Abu Ghraib prison are an example of people being influenced to do things even though they know it is wrong. What is responsible for this powerful influence?

Suppose you wanted your friend Nick to agree to join the "Save the Seals" campaign, a campaign that most of your other friends support. You should invite Nick to a meeting of __________.

__________ is defined as "the deliberate, systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipulate cognitions, and direct behavior to achieve a response that furthers the desired intent of the communicator."

Which of the following variations of Milgram's (1963) original obedience experiment provides the strongest evidence of the operation of normative conformity when participants administer electric shocks to a confederate learner?

Milgram surveyed both a panel of Yale undergraduates and a panel of psychology professors before he conducted his original experiment. In these surveys, he found that __________.

Sherif's study using the autokinetic effect demonstrated that __________.

According to several replications of Asch's line studies in Japan, Germany, and Britain, people in those countries are more likely to conform to groups __________.

What characteristic of the ice bucket challenge made it difficult for people to ignore?