MONEY Matters

Asking for donations is hard work, and one gets used to refusals. A clever technique developed by Cialdini and Shroeder (1976) found a way to make it harder for people to say no. In their study, some confederates simply asked for a donation to the American Cancer Society, while others added the phrase “Even a penny will help.” Adding the latter phrase nearly doubled the rate at which people said yes and gave a donation.

Of course, getting donations of only a penny would not be really of much help to the American Cancer Society! But the researchers found that the average size of the donations did not change. Thus, the even-a-penny method produced many more donations of the same approximate size, resulting in a big increase in total amount.

Why? Most reasons people give for refusing resemble “I do not have enough money to donate,” but such reasons do not work with the even-a-penny method. Everyone can aff ord to give a penny! To refuse a request when even a penny would be acceptable might make the refuser feel cheap and petty. Apparently, though, once people decide to go ahead and donate, they donate the amount they would normally give (rather than just giving a penny).

Being Correct: Informational Influence

Two types of situations produce informational influence: (a) ambiguous situations, so that people do not know how to behave; and (b) crisis situations, so that people don’t have time to think for themselves.

If you look at a pinpoint of light in a dark room, the light appears to move even though it does not actually move at all. This illusion of movement, caused by very slight movements of the eye, is called the autokinetic effect.

Muzafer Sherif (1935) used the autokinetic effect to study the formation of group norms. Group norms are the beliefs or behaviors that a group of people accepts as normal. Sherif asked individual participants in a dark room to estimate how far the light moved. Their individual estimates ranged from about 1 inch to about 8 inches. They repeated this process on subsequent days, but in the presence of two other participants. As participants heard the estimates provided by others, their individual answers converged and became more similar.

Being Liked: Normative Influence

Social influence is a broad category. Social psychologists distinguish between two major forms of social infl uence: normative infulence and informational infulence. Let us consider each of these in turn.

Normative infl uence involves going along with the crowd in order to be liked and accepted. As we have seen throughout this book, humans have a fundamental need to belong to social groups. Being accepted and included improves one’s chances for survival (and improves life in many other ways). However, there is a long road to acceptance within the group. To live together, people usually need to agree on common beliefs, values, attitudes, and behaviors that reduce ingroup threats and act for the common good. Th erefore, people learn to conform to their group’s rules. Th e more we see others behaving in a certain way or making particular decisions, the more we feel inclined to follow suit. Th is happens even when we are in a group of complete strangers: we will go along with the others to avoid looking like a fool.

The studies conducted by Solomon Asch illustrate the power of normative influence. Asch asked participants to judge which of three lines matched a comparison line. In some studies, the participant was asked last in a group of confederates, all of whom had been instructed to give the same wrong answer. Asch found that many participants went along with the confederates and gave the wrong answer, even though they could plainly see it was wrong, rather than deviate from the group.

Confronting Anti-Social Behaviors

It's easier to behave in a socially acceptable way with others who follow the same rules, but how do you handle someone with anti-social behavior? When someone is rude, confrontational or purposefully undermining, there are some techniques that can minimize the behavior.

Anti-social people have expectations of how people respond to them. By acting outside social norms, they force others to cater to their needs and get frustrated. Anti-social people enjoy the knowledge that comes from knowing they have the power to change a conversation or disrupt a gathering. The best way to handle an anti-social person is to not allow that to happen.

When someone is making rude comments or acting rudely, many people initially react with forced laughter or simply turn away and ignore it. This encourages the individual to act up more so that everyone notices his behavior. Instead of turning your back, confront an anti-social person. Simply address the person in a straightforward and coolly polite manner. You can point out that their behavior is bothering you and others and that surely they know better. There may be a few more rude comments in return, but the wind is out of his sails and the rude person has been acknowledged, just not in the way that makes him feel powerful.