Social Influence

You can’t hide from it. No matter what you do, you will somehow fall victim to social influence, or the social pressures that we perceive (Cialdini & Goldstein, 2004; Kiesler & Kiesler, 1969). One of the more prevalent forms of social influence is that of compliance which generally refers to when someone succumbs to an explicit request made by someone of equal status such as a peer (Langer, Blank, & Chanowitz, 1978). Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), there are quite a few techniques one can use to get an individual to comply with a request. Since we are social animals, we often are influenced by the norm of reciprocity (Gouldner, 1960). The general idea behind the norm of reciprocity resembles that of the “golden rule”: treat others as they have treated you (Gouldner, 1960). So in the cases where other people do nice things for us or give us gifts, we then feel obligated to return the favor. At face value, this seems harmless. However, this norm can be easily used to take advantage of others. I personally experience this on a regular basis, even though I fervently try to avoid it. Case in point: free samples. I remember going to SAM’s with my parents and always looking forward to getting the free samples of different foods. Yet, it never failed. I always felt obligated to buy the product or somehow return the favor of giving me a small sample. At times, the product did manage to find its way into our cart (like cream puffs often did). Luckily, as I have gotten older I have come to the conclusion that people handing out samples are paid to do so and that I don’t have to buy that product. The samples aren’t given out as favors; they’re just advertisement and marketing tools. Another situation where I found myself feeling obligated to make a purchase was when I recently went to a clothing store. I originally went in for one thing but despite my efforts to rebuff service from the sales associates, I found myself trying on multiple items and being given wonderful personalized attention by the employees there. One of them even went to the point to make up a “wish list” for me. I had gotten such wonderful service and attention that I soon found myself at the register with multiple purchases. I had a similar experience at a restaurant a few months back. My boyfriend and I went to this really nice restaurant for dinner on our date night. We decided to order some wine, but we weren’t sure which one to get so we consulted our waitress. She offered some descriptions but then ultimately offered us samples of the two wines we were choosing between. Typically samples are small portions, but on this occasion they were full glasses. This nice free gesture coupled with exceptional personal attention then left us feeling obligated to leave a substantial tip. We ended up leaving around a 40% tip. Social influence wins again.

(n=507)

Cialdini, R. B., & Goldstein, N. J. (2004). Social influence: Compliance and conformity. Annual Review of Psychology, 55, 591-621.

Gouldner, A. W. (1960). The norm of reciprocity: A preliminary statement. American Sociological Review, 25, 161-178.

Kiesler, C. A., & Kiesler, S. B. (1969). Conformity. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

Langer, E. J., Blank, A., & Chanowitz, B. (1978). The mindlessness of ostensibly thoughtful action. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 36, 635-642.