We are all familiar with the difference between yielding to direct or indirect pressure from
a group or an individual, and being genuinely persuaded. For example, you may simply
agree publicly with other people's attitudes, comply with their requests or go along with
their behaviour, yet privately not feel persuaded at all. On other occasions, you may
privately change your innermost beliefs in line with their views or their behaviour. This has
not gone unnoticed by social psychologists, who find it useful to distinguish between coercive
compliance on the one hand and persuasive influence on the other.
Some forms of social influence produce public compliance - an outward change in
behaviour and expressed attitudes in response to a request from another person, or as a
consequence of persuasion or coercion. As compliance does not reflect internal change, it
usually persists only while behaviour is under surveillance. For example, children may obey
parental directives to keep their room tidy, but only if they know that their parents are
watching! An important prerequisite for coercive compulsion and compliance is that the
source of social influence is perceived by the target of influence to have power; power is the
basis of compliance (Moscovici, 1976).