The Texas polygamist ranch

Under suspicions of abuse and neglect by their caregivers, 416 children were removed from the now-infamous polygamist ranch in Texas last month. After Texas authorities received a call from a 16-year-old girl reporting sexual and physical abuse, police raided the establishment and began taking out children by the hundreds.

Accounts from people removed from the compound have revealed that while inside, girls were forced to marry at ages as young as 13—in Texas, it is illegal to marry under age 16 under any circumstances. In the compound, husbands are allowed to marry multiple women, and competition over brides is often fierce. One former resident remembers seeing her father slap her mother for expressing jealous over his one of his other wives. Additionally, allegations have been raised regarding serious physical and sexual abuse towards the female members of the community.

With all of these poor conditions within the compound, why did almost nobody try to flee? Why did it take so long for somebody inside to report the injustices being done? The answers to these questions can be found through an exploration of the topics of social influence and persuasion.

Social influence is one of the fundamental topics of social psychology, and it investigates how people are affected by those around them and led to behave in certain ways. People can be influenced by others to act in certain ways for a number of reasons. They may carry out a behavior voluntarily and with little or no persuasion, or they may do it begrudgingly after much coercion.

There are three types of social influence: conformity, compliance, and obedience. In the case of the polygamy ranch, conformity seems to play the greatest role. In general, people are subject to normative social influence, which means that they are willing to go along with the crowd in order to be liked and accepted. This stems from our natural desire to feel a sense of belonging. Our need to belong makes us likely to conform to the ways of the people around us. So when the people around us are obeying the rules—even if, for girls, it means no haircuts or pants—we are probably going to follow them as well.

But why did people follow the compound’s rules in the first place? The obedience aspect of social influence comes into play here as well. In order to ensure that the youths never have the desire to leave the compound, the elders make use of fear appeals. Children are warned of “terrible forces outside the compound” that wish to do them harm, and they are told that eternal damnation awaits them should they decide to leave. With no reason to doubt their elders, the children obey the orders they are given—and develop a fear of the outside world in the process. With so many reasons not to leave, the children living in that compound knew of no other option but to stay.

CNN.com, 4/17/09; CNN.com, 4/8/08; CNN.com, 4/5/08