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Compliance

Definition

Compliance refers to the act of responding favorably to an explicit or implicit request offered by others. Technically, compliance is a type of social influence where an individual does what someone else wants them to do, following his or her request or suggestion.

Analogy

Imagine your favorite celebrity endorsing a brand of shoes. You might not need new shoes, but because your favorite celebrity suggested it, you buy them anyway. This is like compliance - you're doing something because someone else suggested it.

Related terms

Obedience: A form of social influence where an individual acts in response to a direct order from another individual who is usually an authority figure.

Persuasion: The process by which a person’s attitudes or behavior are influenced by communications from other people.

Social Influence: 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 and other people.