Psychology Why Children Would Listen to Their Babysitter

Psychology provides explanations as to why children who are being babysat would listen to their caretaker, and how the caretaker influences the children. For example if the caretaker asked the children to get along, keep their play area clean, watch no more than one hour of t.v. , and work on their school projects then they most likely will be obedient to the commands. Obedience is a form of social influence where an individual acts in response to a direct order from another individual, who is usually an authority figure. It is assumed that without such an order the person would not have acted in this way. Obedience occurs when you are told to do something (authority), whereas conformity happens through social pressure (the norms of the majority). Obedience involves a hierarchy of power / status. Therefore, the person giving the order has a higher status than the person receiving the order. The children might also listen to direction and be obedient due to conformity. If the children respect the caretakers position/authority then they most likely will listen to all commands and direction given. Conformity is a type of social influence involving a change in belief or behavior in order to fit in with a group. This change is in response to real (involving the physical presence of others) or imagined (involving the pressure of social norms / expectations) group pressure. If I asked the children to limit themselves to one hour of television followed by asking them to work on a school assignment, they are more likely to comply due to the foot-in-the-door phenomenon. The foot in the door phenomenon is people’s tendency to comply more readily with a large request if they have already agreed to a smaller favor. If the children asked me if they could watch 2 hours of television, and I instantly said no!, followed by them asking me if they could watch an hour of television instead where I would say yes, out of guilt, however it is acceptable therefore they