Social Influence
ACTIVITY
Write inside the bar graph the names of the most and least
influential individuals in your lifetime. On the longer bar, write the
names of the most influential person and on the shorter bar, write
the names of the least influential person in your life.
Social influence is characterized
by a change in your behavior caused
by the people that empower you to
adjust to a particular situation.
Whether someone agrees or disagrees
with you, it influences your behavior
that may help or hinder your social
roles. Social influence also happens
when you change your behavior to
adapt to social demands. Social
influence is categorized by conformity,
compliance, and obedience.
Conformity is changing your
behavior to be the same with the others
in the group (Asch 1955 in Ramirez
2020). For example, when you visit your
friend’s home, to show respect, you
both ask for the grandmother’s blessing
because you were told that it is
courtesy. This situation engages you to
deal with it by adapting to the shared
norms and values to gain social
approval rather than rejection. You were
able to conform to the group standards.
Compliance is granting a
request or demand asked by
another individual in exchange
of either a reward or a
punishment. For example,
during examination day, you are
required to take the test to
finish the grading period and
failure to do so may result in a
failing grade.
Obedience means changing your
behavior to follow the demand given by an
authority or an adult you have high regards
with. For instance, as a maturing adolescent,
you want to contribute to development
through inviting other friends to exercise
proper waste disposal. Whether you do it
purposely as you try to give the leader your
respect or purposefully as it empowers you to
participate actively as a follower. Whatever
your reason is for obeying; it leads to social
facilitation. This happens when you are given
a sense of responsibility that allows you to
perform better if you are with other
individuals.
Obedience means changing your
behavior to follow the demand given by an
authority or an adult you have high regards
with. For instance, as a maturing adolescent,
you want to contribute to development
through inviting other friends to exercise
proper waste disposal. Whether you do it
purposely as you try to give the leader your
respect or purposefully as it empowers you to
participate actively as a follower. Whatever
your reason is for obeying; it leads to social
facilitation. This happens when you are given
a sense of responsibility that allows you to
perform better if you are with other
individuals.
Given these three
situations, you can choose to
conform, to comply, or to obey
depending on how well you
perceive yourself and others;
likewise, how others perceive
you. These are all important in
personal development.
Comparing your self-perception with
others’ perception of you has contributed to
your thoughts that influence your behavior.
These significant persons in your lives help
you in becoming a successful leader and
follower through social relationships. In any
relationship, communication is important as
you listen to what others are telling you, and
as to understand yourself and others in any
situation. It influences your outlook in life,
like when you were in your formative years –
you have a limited capacity of acknowledging
what is happening around you.
More so, you are not aware of how
other people treated or thought about
you. There were also times when adults
always asked you what you want to be
when you grow up. While, as you grow,
as a maturing adolescent you conceive
new thoughts, feelings and behavior
based on your experiences which form
new perceptions that influence you in
dealing with others, in handling your
problems, and in making right
decisions.
To help you understand this more, let
us apply the principle of sowing and
reaping to your everyday life. One example
of sowing is when you decided to
cooperate with your group mates with
whom you were able to share your ideas to
complete the task; while reaping is when
your group was able to submit and present
an innovative output so your teacher and
classmates can give their feedback to
compliment it. At the start, you benefit
from the feedback you received which
eventually led you to assert influence.
Significantly, you are becoming
responsible for your thoughts and
behaviors as you adapt to the
needs of the situations in the
same manner that you have self-
control that empowers you to
regulate your behavior to make
positive choices in life.
The change in your behavior
therefore enhances your role in
becoming a follower and a leader.
Both these roles involve
responsibility to serve others that
can be achieved through
cooperation. Hence, a change in
mindset is being mindful and
sensitive to your thoughts,
feelings, and behaviors.
THANK YOU…
References
Daffin, L. [Link]. [Link] 4: The Perception of Others: In Essential of Social
Psychology. Accessed on August 9, [Link]://[Link]/socialpsychology/chapter/module-4-
the-perception-of-others/ CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Forsyth, Donelson.2021. The psychology of groups. In R. Biswas-Diener & E. Diener
(Eds), Noba textbook series: Psychology. Champaign, IL: DEF publishers.
Accessed August 9, [Link]://[Link]/trfxbkhm CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Ramirez, [Link], Compliance, Obedience, OER Commons.
Accessed August 9, 202.
[Link] CC BYNC-SA 4.0
Spielman, Rose. Sensation vs Perception, OER Commons. Accessed August 9,
[Link]://[Link]/courseware/lesson/15317/overview
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Spielman Rose. [Link]. What is Social Psychology?, OER Commons. Accessed August
9, 2021.
[Link] CC BYNC-SA 4.0
Stangor, [Link]. Principles of Social Psychology: Affect, Behavior, and Cognition, BC
Campus. Accessed August 9,
[Link]://[Link]/socialpsychology/chapter/affect-behavior-andcognition/CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Strangor, [Link]. Principles of Social Psychology: Influencing and Conforming.
Accessed August 9,
[Link]://[Link]/socialpsychology/part/chapter-7-influencingand-conforming/ CC BY-NC-SA
4.0
ACTIVITY
Shade all boxes that contains a statement reflecting your behavior. Answer the Myself
column based on how you perceive yourself, while in the Others column, based on how
others see you (you may ask someone from your family which of the following statements
apply to you).
Process Questions:
1. Based on the data, is
there any comparison that
you want to give an
emphasis on?
2. How can you categorize
yourself? Are you a
conformist, compliant or
obedient? Explain your
QUIZ
QUIZ
Multiple Choice. Choose the letter
of the best answer. Write the chosen
letter on a separate sheet of paper.
1. It occurs when an individual changes
his/her behavior to adapt to social
demands.
A. Social Influence C. Social Relationship
B. Social Facilitation D. Personal
Relationship
QUIZ
Multiple Choice. Choose the
letter of the best answer. Write the
chosen letter on a separate sheet
of paper.
2. It is the change in one’s behavior to be
more like the others in the group.
A. Obedience C. Compliance
B. Conformity D. Complement
QUIZ
Multiple Choice. Choose the letter
of the best answer. Write the chosen
letter on a separate sheet of paper.
3. It is the change in one’s behavior by
doing a request asked by another
individual in exchange for reward or
punishment.
A. Conformity C. Complacent
B. Compliance D. Complement
QUIZ
Multiple Choice. Choose the letter of
the best answer. Write the chosen
letter on a separate sheet of paper.
4. It is the change in one’s behavior by
following the demand given by the individuals
you respect.
A. Objective
B. Obedience
C. Conformity
D. Compliance
QUIZ
Multiple Choice. Choose the letter
of the best answer. Write the chosen
letter on a separate sheet of paper.
5. It happens to a person in order to perform
better at working with others than working
alone.
A. Social Change
B. Social Loafing
C. Social Influence
D. D. Social Facilitation
ANSWER KEY
1. A
2. B
3. B
4. B
5. D