scholarly journals Theory of Social Proof and Legal Compliance: A Socio-Cognitive Explanation for Regulatory (Non) Compliance

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 238-255
Author(s):  
Shubhangi Roy
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Social Influence ◽  
Imperfect Information ◽  
Regulatory Compliance ◽  
Legal Compliance ◽  
Dynamic Framework ◽  
Social Proof ◽  
Improve Compliance ◽  
Criminal Deterrence ◽  
Cognitive Explanation

AbstractChallenging the assumption of perfect legal knowledge, this Article employs social psychology to better understand how individuals make decisions about legal compliance under imperfect information conditions. It adapts the informational aspects of “social influence conception of criminal deterrence” to regulatory compliance at large. However, it conceptualizes social influence as more than just “visible deterrence.” Social Psychology helps us to understand who, how many, and what kind of behaviors constitute adequate social proof to guide an individual’s decision on compliance. Additionally, the interaction of social proof and legal compliance is considered within a dynamic framework in relation to specific rules and across the system. Within this framework, compliance/non-compliance cascades across different rules and can create a perception about legal compliance at large, which in turn guides initial expectations with respect to new laws. Over time, this can create high/low compliance equilibriums within which societies operate. Understanding this informational role that social influence plays in legal compliance can further our understanding of what motivates compliance, the potency of the expressive functions of law in societies operating within different compliance equilibriums, and inform policy discussions on how to improve compliance—both voluntary and through sanction/incentives.

Compliance and Social Psychology

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chad R. Mortensen ◽  
Robert B. Cialdini
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Universal Principles ◽  
Social Proof ◽  
Influence Attempts ◽  
Influence Process ◽  
Recommended Action

It is through the influence process that people generate and manage change. As such, it is important to understand fully the workings of the influence processes that produce compliance with requests for change. Fortunately, a vast body of scientific evidence exists on how, when, and why people comply with influence attempts. From this formidable body of work, one can extract six universal principles of influence that generate compliance in the widest range of circumstances. Reciprocation states that people are more willing to comply with requests (for favors, services, information, concessions, etc.) from those who have provided such things first. Commitment/Consistency states that people are more willing to be moved in a particular direction if they see it as consistent with an existing commitment. Authority states that people are more willing to follow the directions or recommendations of a communicator to whom they attribute relevant expertise. Social Proof states that people are more willing to take a recommended action if they see evidence that many others, especially similar others, are taking it. Scarcity states that people find objects and opportunities more attractive to the degree that they are scarce, rare, or dwindling in availability. Finally, Liking states that people prefer to say yes to those they like, such as those who are similar to them and who have complimented them.

Social influence tactics in e-commerce onboarding: The role of social proof and reciprocity in affecting user registrations

2020 ◽  
Vol 131 ◽  
pp. 113268 ◽  
Author(s):  
Konstantin Roethke ◽  
Johannes Klumpe ◽  
Martin Adam ◽  
Alexander Benlian
Keyword(s):  
Social Influence ◽  
Influence Tactics ◽  
Social Proof

scholarly journals Negotiating Peace with Your Enemy: The Problem of Costly Concessions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie Sticher
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Imperfect Information ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Bargaining Theory ◽  
Group Preferences ◽  
Party Members ◽  
Commitment Problems ◽  
Acceptable Agreement

Abstract Why do some parties fail to settle conflict, even after long periods of fighting? Bargaining theory explains this through imperfect information, commitment problems, war entrepreneurs, and indivisible stakes. Integrating insights from social psychology into bargaining theory, this article proposes an additional bargaining obstacle. Conflict party members not only care about their in-group's welfare, but also want to avoid rewarding their opponent through concessions. A mutually acceptable agreement always contains concessions, yet when concessions are unpopular with key constituents, they are costly for leaders to make. This may result in a situation where leaders would prefer to settle but still decide to continue the war. Modifying a standard bargaining setup to account for this dilemma, the article demonstrates the difficulties of settling a conflict when out-group preferences are salient. It shows how events that increase the saliency of out-group preferences, such as major ceasefire violations, lead to a drop in public support for negotiations. The problem of costly concessions renders the search for a mutually acceptable agreement a delicate balancing act, particularly if constituents are isolated from the costs of war and political competitors mobilize around unpopular concessions.

scholarly journals Is Psychology Still a Science of Behaviour?

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. e25025 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dariusz Doliński
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Statistical Analysis ◽  
Social Influence ◽  
Empirical Data ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Human Behaviour ◽  
Cognitive Shift

Since the 1970s, social psychology has examined real human behaviour to an increasingly smaller degree. This article is an analysis of the reasons why this is so. The author points out that the otherwise valuable phenomenon of cognitive shift, which occurred in social psychology precisely in the 1970s, naturally boosted the interest of psychologists in such phenomena like stereotypes, attitudes, and values; at the same time, it unfortunately decreased interest in others, like aggression, altruism, and social influence. In recent decades, we have also witnessed a growing conviction among psychologists that explaining why people display certain reactions holds greater importance than demonstrating the conditions under which people display these reactions. This assumption has been accompanied by the spread of statistical analysis applied to empirical data, which has led to researchers today generally preferring to employ survey studies (even if they are a component of experiments being conducted) to the analysis of behavioural variables. The author analyses the contents of the most recent volume of “Journal of Personality and Social Psychology”, and argues that it is essentially devoid of presentations of empirical studies in which human behaviours are examined. This gives rise to the question of whether social psychology remains a science of behaviour, and whether such a condition of the discipline is desirable.

Social engineering defence mechanisms and counteracting training strategies

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 206-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Schaab ◽  
Kristian Beckers ◽  
Sebastian Pape
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Social Engineering ◽  
Reference Points ◽  
Human Behaviour ◽  
It Security ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Training Techniques ◽  
Social Proof ◽  
Training Strategies ◽  
Defence Strategies

Purpose This paper aims to outline strategies for defence against social engineering that are missing in the current best practices of information technology (IT) security. Reason for the incomplete training techniques in IT security is the interdisciplinary of the field. Social engineering is focusing on exploiting human behaviour, and this is not sufficiently addressed in IT security. Instead, most defence strategies are devised by IT security experts with a background in information systems rather than human behaviour. The authors aim to outline this gap and point out strategies to fill the gaps. Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted a literature review from viewpoint IT security and viewpoint of social psychology. In addition, they mapped the results to outline gaps and analysed how these gaps could be filled using established methods from social psychology and discussed the findings. Findings The authors analysed gaps in social engineering defences and mapped them to underlying psychological principles of social engineering attacks, for example, social proof. Furthermore, the authors discuss which type of countermeasure proposed in social psychology should be applied to counteract which principle. The authors derived two training strategies from these results that go beyond the state-of-the-art trainings in IT security and allow security professionals to raise companies’ bars against social engineering attacks. Originality/value The training strategies outline how interdisciplinary research between computer science and social psychology can lead to a more complete defence against social engineering by providing reference points for researchers and IT security professionals with advice on how to improve training.

Introduction and Overview

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen G. Harkins ◽  
Kipling D. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Social Influence ◽  
Levels Of Analysis ◽  
The Future ◽  
Target Effects

The study of social influence has been central to social psychology since its inception. In fact, research on social influence began in the 1880s, predating the coining of the term social psychology. However, by the mid-1980s, interest in this area had waned. Now the pendulum is swinging back, as seen in growing interest in non-cognitive, motivational accounts. Our hope is that the publication of this volume will aid this movement. The chapters, written by leading scholars, cover a variety of topics in social influence, incorporating a range of levels of analysis (intrapersonal, interpersonal, and intragroup) and both source and target effects. The book also includes chapters on theories that are most relevant to social influence, as well as a set of chapters on social influence in applied settings. Finally, we include a section that considers the future of social influence in social psychology.

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