Introduction
Imagine living all by yourself, in total isolation. Will you be as careful of as you dress or eat? Our attitudes manners and actions are strongly affected by other persons.
The process by which others affect us is known as Social Influence. Social influence is the change in behavior that one person causes in another, intentionally or unintentionally, as a result of the way the changed person perceives themselves in relationship to the influencer, other people and society in general.
According to Baron:
Conformity is a type of social influence in which individuals change their attitudes or their behavior in order to adhere to existing social norms.
Compliance is a form of social influence involving direct requests from one person to another.
Obedience is a form of Social Influence in which one person simply orders one or more others to perform some actions.
In simple words by social influence it means how ones behavior effects another when he or she interacts with the society.
Wikipedia says:
"Social influence occurs when an individual's thoughts, feelings or actions are affected by other people. Social influence takes many forms and can be seen in conformity, socialization, peer pressure, obedience, leadership, persuasion, sales, and marketing.
In 1958, Harvard psychologist, Herbert Kelman identified three broad varieties of social influence.
Compliance is when people appear to agree with others, but actually keep their dissenting opinions private.
Identification is when people are influenced by someone who is liked and respected, such as a famous celebrity or a favorite uncle."
Internalization is when people accept a belief or behavior and agree both publicly and privately.
Social Influence covers topics like conformity, norms, social influence tactics such as norm of reciprocity, authority, scarcity, interpersonal influence, persuasion, power, advertising, mass media effects, political persuasion, propaganda, comparative influence, compliance, minority influence, influence in groups, cultic influence, social movements, social contagions, rumors, resistance to influence, influence across cultures, and the history of influence research.
Solomon Asch showed how a person could be influenced by others in a group to claim that a clearly shorter line in a group of lines was, in fact, the longest.
Stanley Milgram did classic experiments in obedience, where people off the street obeyed orders to give (what they thought were) life-threatening electric shocks to other people.
Example
You ask me to pass the salt. I comply by giving it to you.
You tell me to pass the salt. I obey by giving it to you.
I notice that people are using salt and passing it to the person on their left without comment. I conform by doing likewise.