Examples Of Social Influence

Introduction
Social influence is the process used by an individual or group to change the behavior or attitudes of others – and it occurs many times each and every day. Being able to recognize when social influence is occurring and why it takes place is a significant research area of social psychology. There is a wide variety of types of social influence, the most important being conformity, compliance, and obedience. By examining past experiences where social influence occurred, one can understand just how common the influence of others affects our behavior and can help recognize social influence attempts in the future. Like almost everybody, I experience instances of social influence consistently and have determined a specific occasion to …show more content…
Nobody personally requested me to act the way I did, I simply exhibited a behavior of acceptance to match the opinions of others. Like mentioned in the previous section, there were times when I disagreed with the proposal. Because I silently disagreed but publicly acted in accordance with my group members, it is an example of public conformity (as opposed to private acceptance – when others produce conformity in terms of private beliefs because we believe their interpretation of an ambiguous event to be the most correct). In my situation, an explicit norm was set – the rest of my group all agreed on the proposal that was drafted, then I chose to publicly express my approval and in turn adhered to this stated …show more content…
Influence efforts can range from being explicit requests or demands to implicit adherence to norms. This variety makes it challenging to be constantly aware of when social influence is affecting our behavior. By assessing past experiences where social influence has occurred, one can ultimately understand the root causes and reasons of social influence, and in turn be better prepared to recognize future attempts to influence