Difference Between Flattery And Compliance

Psych 2410

Assignment 1

Arveen Mayordomo

Student Number: 769575

The focus of this paper is to define several key topics related to the events in the People’s Temple, and to formulate an experiment which tests the notion that flattery increases the chance of compliance. The first three paragraphs explain the terms charismatic leadership, pluralistic ignorance and the start small and build principle. The later paragraphs discuss a laboratory experiment designed to prove that there exists a causality between flattery and compliance.

Charismatic leadership is a characteristic in which a person has the ability to communicate with people in a deep and emotional level. Charismatic leaders are able to express their ideas and vision effectively.

The two main factors of this experiment are flattery and compliance. The independent factor being flattery and the dependent factor being compliance. Since flattery is the independent factor, it is manipulated in order to elicit a change in compliance. In this experiment we will assign two levels of change to the independent factor; flattery and no flattery. The participants of the experiment will be first year university students. There will be 100 participants in total, 50 males and 50 females. Each participant is randomly assigned to either the experimental condition (flattery) or the control condition (no flattery). Factors such as the experimenter and the room in which the experiments are conducted will be kept constant as well. In order to eliminate other causal factors, the experimental environment would be kept constant for each participant. The lighting, temperature, and overall look of the room would be kept identical. The time in which the experiment is conducted will also remain constant. The time is designated at 10 in the morning, during days in which the participants do not have class. The participant would be led into the room by an experimenter. The experimenter would ask the participants in a neutral manner. With the same tone and facial expression, the experimenter would present the participant with a short personality-based survey. The survey involves questions such as age, workplace, and GPA. They are also asked to rate attributes about themselves, such as attractiveness, helpfulness, and intelligence. After the participant answers the question, the experimenter briefly excuses himself and leaves to read their personality profile. To operationalize the variable, the experimental group will be complemented before the experimenter asks them to proceed with an a computer experiment that will take an additional hour. The compliment that will be