What Is Social Influence in Psychology?

Social influence in psychology refers to the ways other people, groups, social expectations, and social situations affect an individual’s thoughts, feelings, attitudes, decisions, and behavior. People can be influenced by others even when nobody directly asks them to change. A person may adopt a group’s opinion, follow a social norm, respond to a request, obey an authority figure, or change behavior simply because other people are present.

Social influence is an important concept in psychology because human behavior does not develop or occur completely independently of the social environment. Family members, friends, classmates, teachers, coworkers, communities, and online groups can all influence how people think and act. The broader field of social psychology examines how people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are affected by social situations and interactions with other people.

The American Psychological Association explains social influence through processes such as conformity, normative influence, informational influence, obedience, social facilitation, social loafing, groupthink, and group polarization. These processes demonstrate that the presence and behavior of other people can affect individual and group behavior in different ways.

Social influence can have positive, neutral, or negative effects. It can encourage cooperation, learning, healthy habits, kindness, and community participation. It can also contribute to unhealthy conformity, prejudice, risky behavior, manipulation, or poor decision-making. Understanding social influence helps explain why people sometimes behave differently when they are alone compared with when they are surrounded by others.

What Is Social Influence in Psychology?

Social influence in psychology is the process through which the presence, behavior, opinions, expectations, requests, or authority of other people affects an individual’s thoughts, feelings, attitudes, or actions.

The influence does not always have to be intentional. A friend may encourage someone to develop a new hobby without deliberately trying to change that person. A student may start studying more seriously because classmates value academic achievement. A child may learn how to share by observing parents or other children. An adult may reconsider an opinion after listening to several people discuss the same issue.

Social influence can therefore be direct or indirect.

Direct influence occurs when another person makes a request, gives an instruction, expresses an opinion, or applies social pressure. Indirect influence occurs when people observe others, interpret social expectations, compare themselves with a group, or anticipate approval and rejection.

This concept is closely connected with social psychology because social psychology examines individuals within social contexts and considers how situations, groups, relationships, and other people can affect behavior. Readers who want a broader introduction can also explore What Is Social Psychology? from OpenStax.

How Does Social Influence Work?

Social influence works through several psychological and social processes. People are social beings, and they often depend on other people for information, approval, cooperation, protection, identity, and guidance.

One important mechanism is the desire to determine what is correct. When a situation is uncertain, people may observe others and use their behavior or opinions as information. This is known as informational social influence.

Another mechanism is the desire to belong. People may adjust their behavior because they want to be accepted, liked, respected, or included by a group. This is known as normative social influence.

Authority is another important source of influence. People may follow instructions because they perceive another person as having legitimate power, expertise, responsibility, or status.

Social influence can also operate through observation and imitation. Children, adolescents, and adults frequently learn behaviors by watching other people. The behavior of parents, teachers, friends, public figures, coworkers, and online communities can provide models for what appears normal or desirable.

The American Psychological Association’s educational material on Social Cognition and Social Influence explains how other individuals and groups can affect behavior and how social roles, norms, attitudes, and responsibilities can influence people within groups.

What Are the Main Types of Social Influence?

The most commonly discussed forms of social influence include conformity, compliance, and obedience. Other related processes include persuasion, normative influence, informational influence, minority influence, social facilitation, groupthink, group polarization, social loafing, and deindividuation.

These concepts overlap, but they are not identical. The main difference involves the source and nature of the pressure.

Conformity

Conformity occurs when a person changes attitudes, opinions, or behavior to align more closely with a group or social standard. The person may conform because of direct pressure, indirect expectations, uncertainty, or the desire to fit in.

For example, imagine a student joining a new class. Most students participate actively in classroom discussions, so the new student gradually becomes more willing to participate. Nobody directly orders the student to behave differently, but the group’s behavior provides a social standard.

Conformity can be beneficial. It allows people to learn social rules, cooperate with others, coordinate activities, and adapt to unfamiliar environments.

It can also become harmful when people follow a group despite recognizing that the group’s behavior is inappropriate or dangerous.

Research associated with Solomon Asch demonstrated how group pressure can affect individual judgments. OpenStax discusses the Asch effect and conformity as an important example of social influence.

Compliance

Compliance occurs when a person changes behavior in response to a request from another person. The requester does not necessarily have formal authority over the individual.

A friend asking someone to help with homework is an ordinary example of compliance. A teacher asking students to submit an assignment by a certain time can also involve compliance when the request is framed as a request rather than an authoritative command.

Compliance does not necessarily mean that the individual has changed their underlying beliefs. A person may agree to a request simply because it appears reasonable, because they value the relationship, or because they want to be helpful.

Psychology research has examined several compliance techniques, including the foot-in-the-door effect, in which agreeing to a small request can sometimes make a person more willing to agree to a later, larger request.

Obedience

Obedience is a form of social influence involving a direct command or instruction from an authority figure.

The relationship between the people involved is important. In obedience, the person giving the instruction is generally perceived as having legitimate authority or power.

Parents, teachers, police officers, supervisors, military leaders, and other authority figures can occupy roles in which obedience may be expected.

Obedience is not automatically harmful. Following a teacher’s safety instruction, respecting legitimate rules, or following appropriate professional procedures can be constructive. Problems can arise when people obey harmful, unethical, or unreasonable commands without critically evaluating them.

Stanley Milgram’s research is one of the best-known examples of psychological research into obedience. OpenStax provides an academic overview of Milgram’s obedience research and its implications.

What Is Normative Social Influence?

Normative social influence occurs when people adjust their behavior because they want to fit in, gain acceptance, avoid rejection, or maintain positive relationships with others.

A teenager may wear a particular style of clothing because most friends dress similarly. A student may remain quiet when everyone else in a group is quiet. An employee may participate in a workplace tradition because refusing to participate could make them feel excluded.

The individual may not necessarily believe that the group is correct. The motivation may simply be social acceptance.

Normative influence can support positive social behavior. People may follow norms involving politeness, cooperation, helping others, respect, or community responsibility.

It can also contribute to unhealthy conformity. A person may participate in bullying, risky behavior, exclusion, or other inappropriate activities because they fear rejection from the group.

The APA describes normative influence as the tendency to align feelings, thoughts, and actions with social norms, particularly when people want to fit in or be accepted.

What Is Informational Social Influence?

Informational social influence occurs when people use other people’s behavior, opinions, or knowledge as information about what is correct.

This type of influence is especially likely when a situation is uncertain, confusing, unfamiliar, or difficult to interpret.

For example, imagine someone entering a building and noticing everyone suddenly moving toward an exit. The person may assume that others know something important and follow them.

A student facing a difficult academic problem may look at classmates’ approaches to determine how the problem should be solved. A new employee may observe experienced coworkers to understand an unfamiliar workplace procedure.

Informational influence can be useful because other people sometimes possess knowledge or experience that an individual lacks.

It can also produce errors when the group itself is misinformed. Following others is not always evidence that their interpretation is correct.

OpenStax explains that informational social influence becomes especially relevant when people believe others are competent or have better information about an uncertain situation.

What Is the Difference Between Normative and Informational Social Influence?

Normative and informational social influence both involve the influence of other people, but the underlying motivation is different.

Normative influence is mainly connected with the desire to fit in, be accepted, or avoid rejection. Informational influence is mainly connected with the desire to understand a situation correctly.

For example, a student might give the same answer as classmates because they do not want to appear different. That is an example of normative influence.

The same student might give the same answer because they believe the classmates understand the question better. That is an example of informational influence.

A single situation can involve both forms simultaneously. A person may believe that a group knows the correct answer while also wanting to remain accepted by the group.

What Factors Increase Social Influence?

Social influence varies from one situation to another. Several factors can affect how strongly people respond to other individuals or groups.

Group size can matter. People may respond differently when influenced by one person compared with a larger group.

Group unanimity can also be important. A person may experience stronger pressure when everyone else appears to agree.

The status or expertise of the source can increase influence. People are often more likely to accept information from someone they perceive as knowledgeable, experienced, or authoritative.

Relationships also matter. A person may be more strongly influenced by a close friend, parent, teacher, partner, or respected leader than by a stranger.

Uncertainty can increase reliance on others. When individuals are unsure about what is happening, they may look to other people for guidance.

Cultural expectations can shape social influence as well. Different societies and communities can have different expectations concerning communication, family roles, cooperation, authority, independence, and group behavior.

The importance of the situation also matters. People may be more influenced by others when the consequences of a decision appear significant.

How Does Social Influence Affect Children?

Social influence is particularly important in childhood because children learn many behaviors through relationships and social experiences.

Children observe parents, caregivers, siblings, teachers, classmates, friends, and other people. Through these interactions, they learn communication patterns, social expectations, cooperation, emotional responses, and appropriate behavior.

A young child may learn to take turns after repeatedly experiencing turn-taking during play. A school-age child may learn classroom expectations by observing classmates. An adolescent may modify clothing, language, interests, or activities in response to peer-group norms.

Social influence does not mean that children simply copy everything they see. Children interpret social information through their developing cognitive, emotional, and social abilities.

This is different from the broader topic of social development. ChildToAdult’s Social Development in Children article focuses on how children gradually develop communication, cooperation, relationship, group-participation, and other social skills. This article instead focuses on the psychological process through which people are influenced by others.

Social experiences can support healthy development when children encounter positive models, supportive relationships, constructive feedback, and appropriate boundaries.

Negative social influence can also affect children. Peer pressure may encourage exclusion, bullying, rule-breaking, unhealthy habits, or risky behavior.

Parents and teachers can help children understand the difference between positive influence and harmful pressure. Children can be encouraged to ask questions, consider consequences, communicate boundaries, and seek help when they feel uncomfortable.

How Does Peer Pressure Relate to Social Influence?

Peer pressure is closely related to social influence because peers can affect behavior, attitudes, decisions, and social expectations.

Peer influence is not always negative. Friends can encourage one another to study, exercise, read, participate in activities, help others, or develop useful skills.

Negative peer pressure can occur when someone feels compelled to do something they would not otherwise choose because they want acceptance or fear rejection.

A child might laugh at someone because friends are doing so. An adolescent might break a rule because a peer group considers the behavior acceptable. A student might avoid speaking up because they are worried about being judged by classmates.

The important issue is not simply whether peers influence a person. Social interaction naturally involves influence. The important issue is the direction, intensity, and consequences of that influence.

For the broader connection between social psychology and child development, readers can also explore ChildToAdult’s Social Psychology: Meaning, Importance & Child Development.

What Is Positive Social Influence?

Social influence can produce constructive outcomes.

People can encourage one another to adopt healthy habits, learn new skills, cooperate, follow reasonable rules, support vulnerable people, and participate in community activities.

In education, positive social influence can encourage students to study, ask questions, collaborate, and develop productive academic habits.

In families, positive influence can support communication, responsibility, empathy, and respectful relationships.

In communities, social influence can encourage volunteering, environmental responsibility, public cooperation, and helping behavior.

Positive influence does not necessarily mean that people lose their independence. Individuals can make informed decisions while learning from others and adapting to social expectations.

What Is Negative Social Influence?

Negative social influence occurs when social pressure contributes to harmful attitudes, decisions, or behaviors.

Examples may include bullying, unhealthy conformity, prejudice, risky behavior, destructive group norms, manipulation, or following inappropriate authority.

Negative influence can be especially powerful when people fear rejection or believe that everyone else agrees.

Social media can also amplify social influence. People can observe trends, opinions, lifestyles, and behaviors from large numbers of other people without being physically present with them.

The visibility of likes, comments, shares, followers, and other forms of social approval can create additional signals about what appears popular or socially acceptable.

This does not mean that social media always produces negative influence. Online communities can provide education, support, connection, and positive role models. The effects depend on the content, social environment, individual characteristics, and patterns of use.

What Is Social Influence in Everyday Life?

Social influence occurs throughout everyday life.

A person may choose a restaurant because friends recommend it. A student may change study habits after observing classmates preparing for an examination. An employee may adopt workplace communication practices by observing colleagues.

A person may become interested in a sport because friends participate in it. Someone may become more environmentally conscious after joining a community that values sustainable behavior.

Even small decisions can involve social influence. Clothing choices, language, food preferences, entertainment, hobbies, communication styles, and opinions may all be affected by other people.

The influence may be obvious or almost invisible.

People do not necessarily recognize every source of influence affecting their decisions. Awareness of social influence can therefore improve self-reflection and decision-making.

What Is Social Influence in Group Behavior?

Groups can create social environments in which individual behavior changes.

One important group process is groupthink. Groupthink can occur when the desire for group agreement becomes so strong that members fail to adequately examine alternatives or potential problems.

Group polarization is another related phenomenon. After discussing an issue with like-minded group members, individuals may sometimes move toward a more extreme version of their original position.

Social loafing involves reduced individual effort when people work collectively and individual contributions are difficult to identify.

Deindividuation describes situations in which a person’s sense of individual identity or accountability may be reduced in certain group settings.

The OpenStax explanation of groupthink, group polarization, social facilitation, social loafing, and deindividuation provides useful academic context for these group processes.

These concepts demonstrate that social influence is broader than simply copying other people. Groups can affect attention, responsibility, decision-making, performance, identity, and judgment.

What Are Classic Psychology Studies of Social Influence?

Social influence has been studied extensively through psychological research.

Solomon Asch’s conformity experiments examined how group judgments could influence an individual’s responses. Participants sometimes conformed to an apparently incorrect majority judgment, demonstrating the potential power of group pressure.

Stanley Milgram’s obedience research examined how people responded to instructions from an authority figure in a highly structured experimental situation. The studies became some of the most discussed research in social psychology and contributed to important ethical discussions about psychological research.

These studies are useful for understanding social influence, but they should not be interpreted as proof that everyone automatically conforms or obeys authority.

Human behavior depends on many factors, including the situation, relationships, perceived legitimacy of authority, group dynamics, individual differences, and cultural context.

Modern psychology therefore treats social influence as a complex process rather than a simple rule that predicts every individual’s behavior.

Why Is Social Influence Important in Psychology?

Social influence is important because it helps explain how people behave in social environments.

It contributes to our understanding of conformity, obedience, compliance, persuasion, group behavior, peer influence, social norms, leadership, relationships, and collective decision-making.

It is also relevant to child development. Children develop social behaviors through interactions with caregivers, peers, teachers, siblings, and wider communities.

For parents, understanding social influence can make it easier to recognize why a child may behave differently around friends than at home.

For teachers, the concept can help explain classroom behavior, group participation, peer relationships, and social learning.

For psychologists and researchers, social influence provides a framework for examining how social environments affect individual behavior.

The topic is also important in areas such as education, health communication, organizational behavior, marketing, community development, and public behavior.

Social Influence and Social Development

Social influence and social development are closely related but should not be treated as identical concepts.

Social development describes how people develop abilities for interaction, relationships, cooperation, communication, and participation in social environments.

Social influence describes how other people and social situations affect a person’s thoughts, feelings, attitudes, or behavior.

A child’s social development can be shaped by repeated experiences of social influence. For example, children may learn cooperation because family members and teachers encourage cooperative behavior. They may learn social rules because adults and peers respond to their behavior in particular ways.

ChildToAdult’s article on Social Development in Children covers the developmental side of this subject, including communication, cooperation, friendships, social expectations, and group participation.

Social Influence and Social and Emotional Development

Social influence also connects with social and emotional development.

Children learn about relationships while interacting with other people. They gradually develop abilities to understand emotions, communicate needs, manage behavior, consider other perspectives, and respond to social situations.

Social influence can affect these experiences positively or negatively.

A supportive peer group may encourage cooperation and confidence. A hostile group may contribute to fear, exclusion, or unhealthy behavior.

The concepts overlap, but they serve different purposes. Social influence focuses on the psychological process of being affected by others, while social and emotional development focuses on how children develop social and emotional abilities over time.

Readers interested in this broader developmental topic can explore What Is Social and Emotional Development?.

How Can People Resist Harmful Social Influence?

Recognizing social influence is the first step toward responding to it thoughtfully.

Critical thinking can help people evaluate whether a group’s opinion is supported by reliable evidence.

Taking time before making a decision can reduce impulsive responses to social pressure.

People can also ask themselves whether they would make the same choice if nobody else were present.

Learning to communicate boundaries is especially important for children and adolescents. A person does not have to accept every request simply because friends or other group members expect it.

Seeking information from reliable sources can also reduce dependence on inaccurate group beliefs.

It is useful to remember that disagreement does not automatically mean disrespect. People can maintain relationships while having different opinions, values, or preferences.

How Can Parents Help Children Handle Social Influence?

Parents can help children develop healthy responses to social influence by creating an environment in which questions and disagreement are allowed.

Children should learn that they can ask why a particular behavior is expected.

Parents can discuss real-life examples of positive and negative peer influence. Instead of simply telling children to avoid peer pressure, adults can help them recognize situations in which someone is being encouraged to do something uncomfortable or unsafe.

Role-playing can also help children practice responses. A child can learn how to say no, leave an uncomfortable situation, suggest an alternative, or seek help from a trusted adult.

Parents can model independent decision-making. When children see adults respectfully disagree, consider evidence, apologize when necessary, and make thoughtful choices, they receive examples of healthy social behavior.

Understanding the wider field of child psychology can also help parents place social influence within the larger context of childhood behavior and development. ChildToAdult’s Child Psychology Guide provides broader coverage of child behavior, development, and psychological concepts.

Is Social Influence Always Bad?

No. Social influence is a normal part of human interaction and is not inherently harmful.

Without social influence, people would have difficulty learning many social rules, coordinating activities, communicating expectations, and participating in communities.

Positive social influence can encourage cooperation, empathy, learning, healthy behavior, and responsible citizenship.

The concern arises when influence becomes coercive, manipulative, harmful, or inconsistent with a person’s values and safety.

Healthy social influence allows room for independent thought. Harmful social pressure may discourage questioning, punish disagreement, or demand behavior that creates harm.

The goal is therefore not to eliminate social influence. The goal is to understand it and respond to it appropriately.

Frequently Asked Questions About Social Influence in Psychology

What is social influence in psychology?

Social influence in psychology is the process through which other people, groups, social expectations, or social situations affect an individual’s thoughts, feelings, attitudes, decisions, or behavior.

What are the three main types of social influence?

The three commonly discussed forms are conformity, compliance, and obedience. Conformity involves adjusting behavior or opinions toward a group, compliance involves responding to a request, and obedience involves following an instruction or command from an authority figure.

What is an example of social influence?

A student changing study habits after observing hardworking classmates is an example of social influence. A person may also change behavior because friends encourage it, a group expects it, or an authority figure gives an instruction.

What is normative social influence?

Normative social influence occurs when people conform because they want to fit in, gain acceptance, maintain relationships, or avoid rejection.

What is informational social influence?

Informational social influence occurs when people use other people’s opinions, behavior, or knowledge as information about what is correct, particularly when a situation is uncertain or ambiguous.

How does social influence affect children?

Social influence affects children through interactions with parents, caregivers, siblings, teachers, classmates, friends, and other social groups. These experiences can influence social behavior, communication, cooperation, decision-making, and understanding of social expectations.

Is peer pressure a form of social influence?

Yes. Peer pressure is a form of social influence in which people’s behavior, attitudes, or decisions are affected by peers or peer-group expectations. Peer influence can be positive or negative.

Can social influence be positive?

Yes. Social influence can encourage learning, cooperation, healthy habits, kindness, responsible behavior, and participation in constructive activities.

Can social influence be negative?

Yes. Negative social influence can contribute to harmful conformity, bullying, risky behavior, prejudice, manipulation, or following inappropriate group expectations.

Why do people conform to groups?

People may conform because they want to be accepted, avoid rejection, believe the group has better information, reduce uncertainty, or maintain relationships. Both normative and informational social influence can contribute to conformity.

How can someone resist negative social influence?

People can resist harmful influence by evaluating evidence independently, thinking about consequences, communicating boundaries, seeking trustworthy information, and asking for help when necessary.

Conclusion

Social influence in psychology explains how people affect one another’s thoughts, feelings, attitudes, decisions, and behavior. It can occur through direct requests, authority, group expectations, observation, social norms, peer relationships, and uncertainty.

Conformity, compliance, and obedience are major forms of social influence. Normative influence helps explain why people conform to gain acceptance, while informational influence helps explain why people look to others for guidance when they are uncertain.

Social influence is present throughout everyday life and is particularly relevant to childhood and adolescence. Children learn through relationships and social experiences, while peer groups, families, schools, and communities can shape developing behavior and social expectations.

Social influence is neither automatically positive nor negative. It can encourage cooperation, learning, empathy, and healthy behavior, but it can also contribute to harmful pressure and poor decisions.

Understanding social influence allows individuals to recognize when their choices are being shaped by others and to make more thoughtful decisions without rejecting the value of healthy social relationships.