COMPLIANCE

• Compliance refers to a change in behavior that is requested by

another individual or group and the individual fulfils the request. In
other words, it refers to changing one's behavior due to the request
of another individual.
• Unlike obedience, compliance does not depend upon being in a
powerful or authority position. Examples of situations involving
compliance are a friend's request for help, the salesperson's attempt
to sell something etc. Sometimes the request is direct while at other
times, it is more subtle
PRINCIPLES OF COMPLIANCE
• 1) Friendship or liking: We are more likely to get influenced by people
we like or people who we are friends with. Companies use this principle
to make more sales. Hence, individuals are more likely to comply to
people they like or to their friends.
• 2) Reciprocity: People usually try to return favors and treat others as
they treat them. Hence according to the norm of reciprocity, we may
feel obliged and comply with others if they have done some favor to us.
• 3) Commitment and Consistency: People have a desire to be consistent.
Once they have made a committed to something, they tend to fulfill it.
PRINCIPLES OF COMPLIANCE
• 4) Social Validation: The principle of social validation means that we
try to do what others are doing to feel secure and safe.
• 5) Authority: We feel a sense of duty or obligation to individuals in
positions of authority. Uniforms, job titles and accessories convey a
sense of authority and may lead us to accept what these individuals
say.
• 6) Scarcity: This principle states that things are more attractive when
their availability is limited. In such situations compliance is high.
Techniques of Compliance
• (1) Based on friendship or liking: Ingratiation: This refers to getting
others to like us so that they comply to our requests. Many
ingratiation techniques work best depending upon situational context.
• Flattery is considered as best ingratiation techniques.
• Self promotion is another technique wherein people inform others
about their past accomplishments and their positive characteristics.
• Through impression management people utilize the liking principle
at its maximum for example, remembering a person’s name.
1)Based on commitment and consistency:
• 1)Foot-in-the-Door-When you visit the food court of your local
shopping mall, are you ever approached by people offering you free
samples of food? If so, why do they do this?
• The answer is simple: They know that once you have accepted this
small free gift, you will be more willing to buy something from the
restaurant they represent. This is the basic idea behind an approach for
gaining compliance known as the foot-in-the-door technique.
• Basically, it involves presenting target people with a small request—
something so trivial that it is hard for them to refuse (“Accept this free
sample”) and then following up with a larger request—the one desired
all along.(JULI GUPTA)
FOOT- IN THE DOOR
FOOT IN THE DOOR
• One day, the neighbor asked my friend if she would let her child stay
in her apartment for a few minutes while she went to a nearby store
for an item she needed for dinner.
• My friend agreed, and then, gradually, the size of the neighbor’s
requests increased: “Will you let her (she was a little girl) stay with
you for an hour, while I go to the doctor?” Ultimately, requests
became so large (“Can you let her stay with you all day . . . ”) that my
friend had to refuse—but it was hard to do since she had agreed to
the smaller requests; she was the victim of the foot-in-the door effect
LOW-BALL PROCEDURE
• 2) lowball procedure. In this technique, which is often used by automobile
salespersons, a very good deal is offered to a customer. After the customer
accepts, however, something happens that makes it necessary for the
salesperson to change the deal and make it less advantageous for the
customer—for example, the sales manager rejects the deal.
• The totally rational response for customers, of course, is to walk away. Yet,
often they agree to the changes and accept the less desirable arrangement
(Cialdini, Cacioppo, Bassett, & Miller, 1978). In instances such as this, an
initial commitment seems to make it more difficult for individuals to say
“no,” even though the conditions which led them to say “yes” in the first
place have now been changed
LOW-BALL PROCEDURE
3)BASED ON THE RECIPROCITY
• 1)The Door-in-the-face: Here the person seeking compliance starts
by asking for a large commitment. But when other individual refuses,
then they make a smaller request. Since the person has refused the
earlier request they might fulfill the second smaller request which
was actually the desired one.(I phone,ok redmi)

• 2)The "That's-Not-All" Technique: The goal here is to make the offer

as appealing as possible. For example, if a person is planning to buy
something, salesperson may add additional offer such as "If you buy a
set of cosmetics now, you get an extra lipstick for free!"
DOOR-IN THE FACE
4)BASED ON SCARCITY
• Deadline Technique: In this technique, individuals are told that they
have only limited time to avail an item. Most of us have encountered
“Going Out of Business Sales” or “End of Season Sales.” Do they
work? The answer is yes, because they are based on a general rule of
life: Things that are scarce, rare, or in “Going Out of Business Sales”
will soon disappear.
• Playing Hard to get: It involves actions by an individual suggesting
that they have little interest in the target person- the one towards
whom playing hard to get is directed. Individuals let the target person
know that they have other offers.
FACTORS AFFECTING COMPLIANCE
• Individuals are more likely to comply when they feel that they have something
in common with the individual making the request.
• 1)If only one or two individuals are present, an individual may refuse to comply
with the group opinion.
• 2)The likelihood to comply increases with the number of individuals present.
• 3) When being part of a group is important to individuals, they tend to comply
with group pressure.
• 4) When an individual is in the immediate presence of the group he is more
likely to comply.
• According to study by Emans et al. in 2003, supervisors using both non- forceful
and forceful techniques tend to elicit compliance with their requests.
OBEDIENCE
• Obedience can be defined as acting in accordance with direct order or
a command. Various laboratory experiments were conducted by
• Milgram (1963, 1974) in order to understand the issue of obedience
to understand the issue of obedience to authority .The sample in the
experiment consisted of 40 men who were recruited through
newspaper ads. He developed a shock generator, starting with shock
levels at 30 volts up to 450 volts. The switches of the generator were
labeled as "slight shock," "moderate shock" and "danger: severe
shock".
OBEDIENCE
• The participants acted as a teacher who had to deliver a shock to the
student each time the student answered incorrectly. While the
participant thought he was delivering real shocks, the student who
was a confederate, pretended to be shocked.
• Participants heard sounds of the student pleading to be released or
suffering a heart condition. At the 300-volt level, the student banged
on the wall and demanded to be released. After this point, the learner
became quiet and did not answer any further questions. The
experimenter instructed the participant to treat this silence as an
incorrect response and deliver a further shock.
Table 1: Showing voltage level & the
corresponding responses to it
VOLTAGE CONFEDERATE RESPONSE

75 Grunts

120 Says that he would not continue with this experiment

150 Bloodcurdling

200 Screams

300 Refuses to answer, and mentions about a heart

condition
330+ Silence
RESULTS
• It was found that, 65% of the participants delivered the maximum
shocks. Many situational factors can explain such high levels of
obedience (Milgram, 1961):
• The physical presence of an authority figure increased obedience.
Teacher and learner status was determined randomly.
• The shocks were said to be painful, not dangerous. Participants
assumed that the experimenter was an expert.
• Since the study was sponsored by Yale, many participants believed
that the experiment must be safe.
conclusion
• Milgram found that if rebellious peers are present then obedience
levels are dramatically reduced.
• This classic experiment suggests that situational variables have a
greater role than personality factors in determining obedience.
However, many psychologists argue that obedience is influenced by
both internal and external factors.
CONDITIONS WHICH YIELD
OBEDIENCE
• 1)VICTIMS DISTANCE---maximum obedience---when learners could be seen and
heard.
• 2)CLOSENESS &LEGITIMACY OF AUTHORITY—physical presence of experimenter
also affected obedience.
• Experimenter commanding=showed obedience
• Non-legitimate authority=only 20% showed obedience
• 3)INSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY—In postexperimental interviews,many participants
said that if it not been for Yale’s reputation they would not have obeyed.
• 4)LIBERATING EFFECT OF GROUP INFLUENCE—if one of the fellow participants
disobeyed,others may disobey too.ex—if learner free himself from shock
watches,teachers also stop being obedient.