PSY 200/SOC 200: Social Psychology//Social Psychology

Instructions

Milestone 4 Assessment

Submit a document answering each of the following questions.

Each answer should be 200-250 words long and  refer specifically to content from this section with in-text citations*. 

You should NOT be using any external resources. 

1. Describe a time when you conformed to the opinions or behaviors of others. Interpret the conformity in terms of the concepts discussed in this section.

2. Provide an example of someone who has each of the types of power discussed in this section.

3. What are your opinions about the COVID pandemic? Consider and discuss how social psychological research may inform your interpretations of this event.

4. Discuss an example where your resisted or had trouble with conformity.  Discuss what factors influenced that resistance (personal, gender, culture, psychological reactance)

*For this class, you can reference text excerpts like this:  (Jhangiani & Tarry 2022). 

All text excerpts are from Jhangiani, R., & Tarry, H. (2022). If there is a quote or reference within a text excerpt; you include both the original author and year and the author and year of the work where quote/idea was found in the in-text reference. Add "as cited in" before the author in the in-text reference. For example - (Deutsch & Gerard, 1955, as cited in Jhangiani & Tarry, 2022). 

Mini lectures/Key Takeaways like this: (Leduc, Summer 2026)

And videos like this ( Title  of Video, Youtube 2026)

• Social influence creates conformity.
• Influence may occur in more passive or more active ways.
• We conform both to gain accurate knowledge (informational conformity) and to avoid being rejected by others (normative conformity).
• Both majorities and minorities may create social influence, but they do so in different ways.
• The characteristics of the social situation, including the number of people in the majority and the unanimity of the majority, have a strong influence on conformity.

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• Although some person variables predict conformity, overall situational variables are more important.
• There are some small gender differences in conformity. In public situations, men are somewhat more likely to hold their ground, act independently, and refuse to conform, whereas women are more likely to conform to the opinions of others in order to prevent social disagreement. These differences are less apparent when the conformity occurs in private.
• Conformity to social norms is more likely in Eastern, collectivist cultures than in Western, independent cultures.
• Psychological reactance occurs when people feel that their ability to choose which behaviors to engage in is eliminated or threatened with elimination. The outcome of the experience of reactance is that people may not conform at all and may even move their opinions or behaviors away from the desires of the influencer.

One of the most basic types of behavior is following the rules, or the majority.  Social Psychologists emphasize that we learn in interaction with others and we will often mirror attitudes/beliefs/behaviors of those we associate with.

Sometimes conformity is good, it definitely serves a function in our society. But do humans have the potential to be the proverbial 'lemmings jumping off the cliff' in our attempts to fit in?

Social Psychology has a breadth and depth of research looking into the effects of persuasion and conformity on our behaviors

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Instructions

Milestone 4 Assessment

Submit a document answering each of the following questions.

Each answer should be 200-250 words long and  refer specifically to content from this section with in-text citations*. 

You should NOT be using any external resources. 

1. Describe a time when you conformed to the opinions or behaviors of others. Interpret the conformity in terms of the concepts discussed in this section.

2. Provide an example of someone who has each of the types of power discussed in this section.

3. What are your opinions about the COVID pandemic? Consider and discuss how social psychological research may inform your interpretations of this event.

4. Discuss an example where your resisted or had trouble with conformity.  Discuss what factors influenced that resistance (personal, gender, culture, psychological reactance)

*For this class, you can reference text excerpts like this:  (Jhangiani & Tarry 2022). 

All text excerpts are from Jhangiani, R., & Tarry, H. (2022). If there is a quote or reference within a text excerpt; you include both the original author and year and the author and year of the work where quote/idea was found in the in-text reference. Add "as cited in" before the author in the in-text reference. For example - (Deutsch & Gerard, 1955, as cited in Jhangiani & Tarry, 2022). 

Mini lectures/Key Takeaways like this: (Leduc, Summer 2026)

And videos like this ( Title  of Video, Youtube 2026)

Created by FontForge 20190112 at Tue Jun 4 15:16:44 2019 By Robert Madole Copyright (c) Font Awesome

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PSY 200/SOC 200: Social Psychology//Social Psychology (2026 Fall) - Learning Outcome 4 - Group Behavior and Conformity 1. Follow the Leader? (mini-lecture) 2. Research on Conformity (text excerpt) 3. Situational Determinants of Conformity (text excerpt) 4. Key Takeaways/Mini-Lecture 5. Will we conform to ANYTHING? (mini-lecture) 6. Milgram Studies (text excerpt) 7. Zimbardo and the Stanford Prison Experiment (text excerpt) 8. Types of Power (text excerpt) 9. Leadership (text excerpt) 10. Key Takeaways/Mini-Lecture 11. Personal, Gender and Cultural Differences (text excerpt) 12. Psychological Reactance (text excerpt) 13. Key Takeaways/Mini-Lectures

Looking at Social Psychology research on conformity, one might think we have no free will.  Would each of us conform to the majority or the influential and even go against our own morals/beliefs/values?

Well, once again researchers have put this to the test...and the results are disconcerting to say the least

Leaders and Leadership

One type of person who has power over others, in the sense that they are able to influence them, are leaders. Leaders are in a position in which they can exert leadership, which is the ability to direct or inspire others to achieve goals (Chemers, 2001; Hogg, 2010). Leaders have many different influence techniques at their disposal: In some cases they may give commands and enforce them with reward or coercive power, resulting in public conformity with the commands. In other cases they may rely on well-reasoned technical arguments or inspirational appeals, making use of legitimate, referent, or expert power, with the goal of creating private acceptance and leading their followers to achieve.

Leadership is a classic example of the combined effects of the person and the social situation. Let’s consider first the person part of the equation and then turn to consider how the person and the social situation work together to create effective leadership.

Personality and Leadership

One approach to understanding leadership is to focus on person variables. Personality theories of leadership are explanations of leadership based on the idea that some people are simply “natural leaders” because they possess personality characteristics that make them effective (Zaccaro, 2007).

One personality variable that is associated with effective leadership is intelligence. Being intelligent improves leadership, as long as the leader is able to communicate in a way that is easily understood by his or her followers (Simonton, 1994, 1995). Other research has found that a leader’s social skills, such as the ability to accurately perceive the needs and goals of the group members, are also important to effective leadership. People who are more sociable, and therefore better able to communicate with others, tend to make good leaders (Kenny & Zaccaro, 1983; Sorrentino & Boutillier, 1975). Other variables that relate to leadership effectiveness include verbal skills, creativity, self-confidence, emotional stability, conscientiousness, and agreeableness (Cronshaw & Lord, 1987; Judge, Bono, Ilies, & Gerhardt, 2002; Yukl, 2002). And of course the individual’s skills at the task at hand are important. Leaders who have expertise in the area of their leadership will be more effective than those who do not.

Because so many characteristics seem to be related to leader skills, some researchers have attempted to account for leadership not in terms of individual traits but in terms of a package of traits that successful leaders seem to have. Some have considered this in terms of charisma (Beyer, 1999; Conger & Kanungo, 1998). Charismatic leaders are leaders who are enthusiastic, committed, and self-confident; who tend to talk about the importance of group goals at a broad level; and who make personal sacrifices for the group. Charismatic leaders express views that support and validate existing group norms but that also contain a vision of what the group could or should be. Charismatic leaders use their referent power to motivate, uplift, and inspire others. And research has found a positive relationship between a leader’s charisma and effective leadership performance (Simonton, 1988).

Another trait-based approach to leadership is based on the idea that leaders take either transactional or transformational leadership styles with their subordinates (Avolio &Yammarino, 2003; Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Moorman, & Fetter, 1990). Transactional leaders are the more regular leaders who work with their subordinates to help them understand what is required of them and to get the job done. Transformational leaders, on the other hand, are more like charismatic leaders—they have a vision of where the group is going and attempt to stimulate and inspire their workers to move beyond their present status and to create a new and better future. Transformational leaders are those who can reconfigure or transform the group’s norms (Reicher & Hopkins, 2003).

• Social power can be defined as the ability of a person to create conformity, even when the people being influenced may attempt to resist those changes.
• Milgram’s studies on obedience demonstrated the remarkable extent to which the social situation and people with authority have the power to create obedience.
• One of the most influential theories of power was developed by French and Raven, who identified five different types of power—reward power, coercive power, legitimate power, referent power, and expert power. The types vary in terms of whether their use is more likely to create public conformity or private acceptance.
• Although power can be abused by those who have it, having power also creates some positive outcomes for individuals.
• Leadership is determined by person variables, situational variables, and by the person-situation interaction. The contingency model of leadership effectiveness is an example of the latter.