Need help with my writing homework on What are the different forms of social influence How have psychologists studied them. Write a 1250 word paper answering; Social psychology works on a premise that our actions and behaviours are influenced by others. Furthermore, our will to be liked by others and fit into society also leads to allegiance to social dynamics of groups and community in which we are operating. In some circumstances, we might hide our own opinions in order to gain approval of others. All these circumstantial responses refer to strength of social influence. While exploring these behavioural responses, various forms of social influences have been identified that may include conformity, obedience and compliance. There is an extensive body of literature that supports these phenomena and their effectiveness in inducing desired behaviour in group members.

Conformity stands for the phenomenon in which one alters their behaviour with reference to the group norms although there are no explicit instructions to do so (Cialdini, 2007, p. 54). The underlying factors behind conformity can be one’s desire to be accurate and have acceptance of others. since people do not want to be judged and declared as being wrong, therefore the ideal option available is to base one’s own judgement over others and present themselves in an acceptable form (Kassin, Fein and Markus, 2011). Such phenomenon is usually common in the instances where peer pressure along with work, team and community influences is strong enough to alter individual opinions. Conformity has been studied extensively by sociologists and psychologists in order to corroborate scientific evidences with social findings. One of the most eminent experiments in this regard is Asch experiment. In this experiment, participants were made to view three lines in which two were of similar lengths and were asked to identify two same lines (Cherry, 2013). All the controlled participants were made to give the wrong answers as they were informed to do so prior to the experiment.