{"id":131,"date":"2021-03-05T02:31:01","date_gmt":"2021-03-05T07:31:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/introconsumerbehaviour\/chapter\/social-influences\/"},"modified":"2021-06-02T12:19:12","modified_gmt":"2021-06-02T16:19:12","slug":"social-influences","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/introconsumerbehaviour\/chapter\/social-influences\/","title":{"raw":"Social Influences","rendered":"Social Influences"},"content":{"raw":"
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\r\n\r\nThe typical outcome of [pb_glossary id=\"343\"]social influence[\/pb_glossary]<\/strong> is that our beliefs and behaviours become more similar to those of others around us. At times, this change occurs in a spontaneous and automatic sense, without any obvious intent of one person to change the other. Perhaps you learned to like jazz or rap music because your roommate was playing a lot of it. You didn\u2019t really want to like the music, and your roommate didn\u2019t force it on you \u2014 your preferences changed in a passive way. Robert Cialdini and his colleagues (Cialdini, Reno, & Kallgren, 1990) found that college students were more likely to throw litter on the ground when they had just seen another person throw some paper on the ground and were least likely to litter when they had just seen another person pick up and throw paper into a trash can. The researchers interpreted this as a kind of spontaneous conformity<\/em> \u2014 a tendency to follow the behaviour of others, often entirely out of our awareness. Even our emotional states become more similar to those we spend more time with (Anderson, Keltner, & John, 2003).\r\n\r\nInfluence also sometimes occurs because we believe that other people have valid knowledge about an opinion or issue, and we use that information to help us make good decisions. For example, if you take a flight and land at an unfamiliar airport you may follow the flow of other passengers who disembarked before you. In this case your assumption might be that they know where they are going and that following them will likely lead you to the baggage carousel.\r\n
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Getting Lost in a Crowd<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n

\r\n\r\nSocial psychologists are interested in studying self-awareness because it has such an important influence on behaviour. People become more likely to violate acceptable, mainstream social norms when, for example, they put on a Halloween mask or engage in other behaviours that hide their identities. For example, the members of the militant white supremacist organization, the Ku Klux Klan, wear white robes and hats when they meet and when they engage in violent racist behaviour.\r\n\r\nSimilarly, when people are in large crowds, such as in a mass demonstration or a riot, they may become so much a part of the group that they experience [pb_glossary id=\"330\"]deindividuation[\/pb_glossary] <\/strong>\u2014 the loss of individual self-awareness and individual accountability in groups (Festinger, Pepitone & Newcomb, 1952; Zimbardo, 1969) and become more attuned to themselves as group members and to the specific social norms of the particular situation (Reicher & Stott, 2011).\r\n\r\nNot all examples of deindividuation cause alarm or concern, however. Consider the community-based solution to crime prevention, \"Bear Clan Patrol,\" which is a volunteer-run organization with membership in Winnipeg, Calgary, and Edmonton. Members provide, \"a sense of safety, solidarity and belonging to both its members and to the communities they serve\" (\"Who we are,\" n.d.). Volunteer patrol teams head out into the dark, cold nights to help the most vulnerable living in the community. They come armed with care packages; they clean up discarded needles and drug paraphernalia; they distribute warm clothing and blankets; and, they provide a set of eyes on the streets where a police presence is less likely to serve those living in the community.\r\n\r\nThe organization was formed in response to the growing number of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls (\"MMIWG\") in urban and rural areas. The early founders of Bean Clan expressed a desire to assume their \"traditional responsibility\" to provide care and support to members of their community through culturally-specific approaches to security, safety, and check-ins.\r\n\r\nThe Bean Clan patrol groups demonstrate how when a group of like-minded individuals come together to address common concerns, their camaraderie provides a stronger sense of purpose and energy, possibly more so than when individuals act alone.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n

Influence, Conformity, & Norms<\/h1>\r\n[pb_glossary id=\"333\"]Informational social influence[\/pb_glossary]<\/strong>\u00a0is the change in opinions or behaviour that occurs when we conform to people who we believe have accurate information<\/em>. We base our beliefs on those presented to us by reporters, scientists, doctors, and lawyers because we believe they have more expertise in certain fields than we have. But we also use our friends and colleagues for information; when we choose a jacket on the basis of our friends\u2019 advice about what looks good on us, we are using informational conformity \u2014 we believe that our friends have good judgment about the things that matter to us.\r\n\r\nInformational social influence\u00a0is often the end result of [pb_glossary id=\"342\"]social comparison[\/pb_glossary]<\/strong>, the process of comparing our opinions with those of others to gain an accurate appraisal of the validity of an opinion or behaviour<\/em> (Festinger, Schachter, & Back, 1950; Hardin & Higgins, 1996; Turner, 1991).\u00a0Informational social influence\u00a0leads to real, long-lasting changes in beliefs. The result of [pb_glossary id=\"329\"]conformity[\/pb_glossary]<\/strong> due to informational social influence is normally [pb_glossary id=\"338\"]private acceptance[\/pb_glossary]<\/strong>: real change in opinions on the part of the individual<\/em>. We believe that choosing\u00a0the jacket\u00a0was the right thing to do and that the crowd will lead us to the baggage carousel.\r\n\r\nIn other cases we conform not because we want to have valid knowledge but rather to meet the goal of belonging to and being accepted by a group that we care about (Deutsch & Gerard, 1955).\u00a0When we start smoking cigarettes or buy shoes that we cannot really afford in order to impress others, we do these things not so much because we think they are the right things to do but rather because we want to be liked.\r\n\r\nWe fall prey to [pb_glossary id=\"336\"]normative\u00a0social influence[\/pb_glossary]<\/strong>\u00a0when we express opinions or behave in ways that help us to be accepted or that keep us from being isolated or rejected by others<\/em>. When we engage in conformity due to normative social influence\u00a0we conform to [pb_glossary id=\"344\"]social norms[\/pb_glossary] <\/strong>\u2014 socially accepted beliefs about what we do or should do in particular social contexts<\/em> (Cialdini, 1993; Sherif, 1936; Sumner, 1906).\r\n\r\nAlthough in some cases conformity may be purely informational or purely normative, in most cases the goals of being accurate and being accepted go hand-in-hand, and therefore informational and normative social influence often occur at the same time. When soldiers obey their commanding officers, they probably do it both because others are doing it (normative conformity) and because they think it is the right thing to do (informational conformity). And when you start working at a new job you may copy the behaviour of your new colleagues because you want them to like you as well as because you assume they know how things should be done. It has been argued that the distinction between informational and normative conformity is more apparent than real and that it may not be possible to fully differentiate them (Turner, 1991).\r\n\r\n[pb_glossary id=\"335\"]Non-conformity[\/pb_glossary]<\/strong> occurs when an individual or group of individuals fail to confirm to rules, laws, and social norms. Why would some individuals elect to be non-conformists? The need for uniqueness<\/em> is a is seen as a trait<\/em> or temporary motivation<\/em> resulting from situational triggers. Some individuals exhibit a greater need to feel different from others or from the anonymous majority and sometimes there are situations that create this need to feel unique. One situation that triggers this is when you feel too similar to others making the major position undesirable. In this case, you opt for nonconformity (Imhoff, et al., 2009).\r\n
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Marketing to the Non-Conformists<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n

\r\n\r\nWhere can we find examples of non-conformity in marketing?\u00a0 Well, all around us actually. If I look at my children's clothes I find batches of (intentionally) miss-matched socks for kids like mine who can't usually be bothered to find matching ones. When I went shopping for Christmas presents this year I was amazed to find Barbie dolls that didn't conform to what I grew up with: they were sized and shaped much more naturally and came with kits representing professions and interests far outside of the stereotypes Barbie has represented for decades.\r\n\r\nIn pop media we see examples of non-conformists all the time: Lady Gaga is a perfect example of someone who wears their difference with pride. Morty Silber writes, \"[s]he is a talented signer and performer that wears mirrored dresses, bubble outfits, rubber suits and lovingly names her fans her \u201cmonsters\u201d. She does things differently than all the other artists and she isn\u2019t afraid to take creative risks or create enemies. She owns her differences and many people are drawn to her radically different non-conformist ways (Silber, 2015).\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
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Reference Groups & Opinion Leaders<\/h1>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
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\r\n\r\n[pb_glossary id=\"264\"]Reference groups[\/pb_glossary] <\/strong>are groups (social groups, work groups, family, or close friends) a consumer identifies with and may want to join. They influence consumers\u2019 attitudes and behavior. A reference group helps shape a person's attitudes and behaviours.\r\n\r\n[pb_glossary id=\"337\"]Opinion leaders[\/pb_glossary]<\/strong> are people who influence others. They are not necessarily higher-income or better educated, but perhaps are seen as having greater expertise or knowledge related to some specific topic. For example, a local high school teacher may be an opinion leader for parents in selecting colleges for their children. These people set the trend and others conform to the expressed behaviour. If a marketer can identify the opinion leaders for a group in the target market, then effort can be directed toward attracting these individuals. For example, if an ice cream parlor is attempting to attract the local high school trade, opinion leaders at the school may be very important to its success.\r\n

An information technology (IT) specialist with a great deal of knowledge about computer brands is another example of an opinion leader. These people\u2019s purchases often lie at the forefront of leading trends. The IT specialist is probably a person who has the latest and greatest tech products, and their opinion of them is likely to carry more weight with you than any sort of advertisement.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

\r\n\r\nHow Reference Groups Influence Individuals<\/strong>\r\n
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