Summary
Compliance is a response—specifically, a submission—made in reaction to a request. The request may be explicit (e.g., foot-in-the-door technique) or implicit (e.g., advertising). The target may or may not recognize that they are being urged to act in a particular way. Social psychology is centered on the idea of social influence. Defined as the effect that the words, actions, or mere presence of other people (real or imagined) have on our thoughts, feelings, attitudes, or behavior; social influence is the driving force behind compliance. It is important that psychologists and ordinary people alike recognize that social influence extends beyond our behavior—to our thoughts, feelings, and beliefs—and that it takes on many forms. Persuasion and the gaining of compliance are particularly significant types of social influence since they utilize the respective effect's power to attain the submission of others. Studying compliance is significant because it is a type of social influence that affects our everyday behavior—especially social interactions. Compliance itself is a complicated concept that must be studied in depth so that its uses, implications, and both its theoretical and experimental approaches may be better understood. Abusive power and control and Control freak In the study of personality psychology, certain personality disorders display characteristics involving the need to gain compliance or control over others: Those with antisocial personality disorder tend to display a glibness and grandiose sense of self-worth. Due to their shallow affect and lack of remorse or empathy, they are well suited to con and/or manipulate others into complying with their wishes. Those with histrionic personality disorder need to be the center of attention; and in turn, draw people in so they may use (and eventually dispose of) their relationship. Those with narcissistic personality disorder have inflated self-importance, hypersensitivity to criticism and a sense of entitlement that compels them to persuade others to comply with their requests.
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Obedience: Milgram's Experiments
Delves into Milgram's obedience experiments, analyzing authority dynamics and factors influencing compliance levels.
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Related publications (7)

Who Is Listening? Spokesperson Effect on Communicating Social and Physical Distancing Measures During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Robert West, Andreas Oliver Spitz, Ahmad Abu-Akel

Effective communication during a pandemic, such as the current COVID-19 crisis, can save lives. At the present time, social and physical distancing measures are the lead strategy in combating the spread of COVID-19. In this study, a survey was administered ...
FRONTIERS MEDIA SA2021

Compliant control of Uni/ Multi- robotic arms with dynamical systems

Seyed Sina Mirrazavi Salehian

Accomplishment of many interactive tasks hinges on the compliance of humans. Humans demonstrate an impressive capability of complying their behavior and more particularly their motions with the environment in everyday life. In humans, compliance emerges fr ...
EPFL2018
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Related concepts (11)
Conformity
Conformity is the act of matching attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors to group norms, politics or being like-minded. Norms are implicit, specific rules, shared by a group of individuals, that guide their interactions with others. People often choose to conform to society rather than to pursue personal desires - because it is often easier to follow the path others have made already, rather than forging a new one. Thus, conformity is sometimes a product of group communication.
Obedience (human behavior)
Obedience, in human behavior, is a form of "social influence in which a person yields to explicit instructions or orders from an authority figure". Obedience is generally distinguished from compliance, which is behavior influenced by peers, and from conformity, which is behavior intended to match that of the majority. Depending on context, obedience can be seen as moral, immoral, or amoral.
Authority bias
Authority bias is the tendency to attribute greater accuracy to the opinion of an authority figure (unrelated to its content) and be more influenced by that opinion. An individual is more influenced by the opinion of this authority figure, believing their views to be more credible, and hence place greater emphasis on the authority figure's viewpoint and are more likely to obey them. This concept is considered one of the social cognitive biases or collective cognitive biases.
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