Introduction
Social influence refers to how people adjust their behavior to meet specific requirements in a social environment. It involves a person’s unintentional and intentional effort to change another individual’s behavior, attitude, or even beliefs. Unlike persuasion, which is often intentional and has an extent to which the target is aware of what is happening, social influence tends to be accidental or inadvertent (Spears, 2021). While people tend to fit in various social environments through influence, this paper will be focused on analyzing the different types of social influence and their impact on a person’s behavior.
Normative Influence
Normative influence type of social influence is where an individual conforms to a specific social environment, so they do not seem left out or foolish. In normative influence, a person adjusts their public behavior but not their beliefs (Spears, 2021). For instance, a person may feel the urge to drink alcohol since all their friends are doing the same.
Informational Influence
In informational influence, a person’s urge to be right compels them to conform and align with others they think have more information. This type of influence happens when an individual lacks knowledge or is unsure about a situation (Spears, 2021). For example, when a person plays pool for the first time, they tend to look at how others play to learn from them.
Conformity
Conformity involves a person changing their behavior or beliefs in response to imagined or real social pressure. For instance, in a workplace, a new employee needs to observe the dress code of other employees and adapt it to fit in.
Compliance
Compliance is when an individual may publicly agree with a group on a particular topic, but privately, they disagree. For example, a person may be compelled to laugh at a joke since the rest of the group finds it funny, but deep down, they do not have the same viewpoint.
Conclusion
Nonetheless, social influence has conflicting views since they sometimes violate a person’s will. Social influence compels one to behave or change their beliefs to fit in various social settings. The urge to fit in violates a person’s free will since they are forced to act or present themselves in a certain way that may be offensive or undermine them. For instance, compliance compels a person to behave like their friend to avoid humiliating them.
Reference
Spears, R. (2021). Social influence and group identity. Annual Review of Psychology, 72(1), 367-390.