Compliance (psychology).

Within the field of psychology, the term compliance is used to identify the process of changing personal behavior in response to a request from another individual. Requests may be stated verbally, or they may be nonverbally communicated by the actions of the other person. Compliance occurs within a range of relationships, such as parent and child, teacher and student, physician and patient, and salesperson and client. It may also involve groups of people. Factors involved in group compliance include the strength and size of the group, the similarities or differences of group members, and the immediacy of the situation. The terms obedience and conformity are closely related to compliance, with obedience being heavily influenced by the authority of the individual requesting the behavioral change and conformity signifying the need to cohere with a social majority. While compliance may occur in conjunction with authority, the goal in compliance is a voluntary agreement to change rather than a response to an order to change. Compliance generally occurs within a social setting and may, therefore, be influenced by the fact that other people are present to witness the action. Social psychologists maintain that compliance is a useful tool for succeeding in the social milieu, and they have spent a good deal of time studying the impact of social influences on the process of compliance.