Core Social Influence Concepts

How other people influence us

Social influence is the effect other people have on our behaviour, beliefs or opinions. This can happen through the example set by a group, through people acting together, or through an authority figure giving an order. Conformity, collective behaviour and obedience describe different aspects of this influence.

Conformity: matching the group

Conformity means changing behaviour, opinions or beliefs to match those of a group. Often this involves majority influence: the larger part of the group influences someone to follow its behaviour or views.

Suppose most of a friendship group laugh at a joke. Someone who does not find it funny might laugh too because they want to fit in. Nobody needs to order them to laugh: the group's reaction provides the influence. Alternatively, someone who is unsure what to do might copy the majority because they think the group knows better than they do.

Conformity does not necessarily mean that a person's private beliefs have changed. A person might publicly agree with friends while privately disagreeing. What has changed in that case is their outward behaviour, rather than their own opinion.

Collective behaviour and crowds

Collective behaviour is how people behave when acting together as part of a large group. Their behaviour may differ from how they would act alone: someone who would not sing on their own might enthusiastically join thousands of football supporters chanting.

Crowd behaviour is collective behaviour among people gathered in the same place at the same time, such as supporters in a football stadium or people taking part in a march. Simply being in the same place does not necessarily mean people are acting collectively: commuters waiting separately for a train are gathered together, but may each be carrying out their own activity.

Collective behaviour can also occur among people who are physically separated. The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, for example, involved people taking part in a shared charity activity without needing to gather in one crowd. Crowd behaviour is therefore one form of collective behaviour, not a name for every instance of it.

Helping or harming others

Collective and crowd behaviour can be pro-social or anti-social. These labels describe the nature of the behaviour, not simply the size of the group.

Pro-social behaviour is intended to help or benefit others. In a crowd, this could involve supporters helping someone who has fallen or passing water to people who need it. After the riots of August 2011, residents gathered with brooms to clean their high streets: people acting together helped their communities.

Anti-social behaviour harms, threatens or distresses others, or breaks accepted social norms. Rioting, vandalism and looting during the 2011 London riots are examples of anti-social collective behaviour. A crowd is not automatically anti-social: people acting together can help others as well as cause harm.

Obedience: following an authority's order

Obedience occurs when someone follows a direct order from an authority figure, such as a teacher, parent or police officer. For example, a pupil who leaves a classroom because a teacher tells them to is obeying an authority figure.

The key distinction from conformity is the source of the influence. If a pupil starts packing away because most classmates are doing so, that is conformity. If they pack away because the teacher directly tells them to, that is obedience. The action can look similar, but the reason for it differs.

Obedience can help people work safely and maintain order, such as following a teacher's safety instructions. However, following an order is not automatically helpful or morally right: obedience can also cause harm when an authority figure gives harmful instructions.