Social psychological impact and compliance in the context of religious groups

Many countries host many religious groups that continue active or passive presence. According to Islamic historical sources, religious groups such as Sufi sect and congregations have made huge contributions to the Islamization of Anatolia. This confirms that religious groups have various effects on people. However, these effects are not unidirectional in the sense that the group affects the individual. Many factors such as personality traits, upbringing style, experiences, education, culture, economic situation, community structure, socialization might change the direction of this influence process. In some cases, individuals form and affect groups, while in some others, groups have a large impact on individuals. For both sides, these effects might carry positive and negative characteristics. Even at a certain time, a positive effect can turn into a negative one, and vice versa. What causes this change is the different conditions depending on the environment and person. The most comprehensive research on this subject has also been conducted by social psychology. Social psychology primarily tries to explain by which factors people are affected in what kind of situations, and how they react, by using concepts such as compliance, obedience, social influence, acceptance and norms. These are mostly used to explain the effects that are independent of and external to the person. Theories of cognitive contradiction, attribution, attitude change, and symbolic interaction also try to explain the effects associated with the person and personal characteristics. In our study, initially, we discussed the external aspect of the influence by explaining the concepts of social psychology. After explaining group processes and several characteristics of religious groups, we conducted qualitative research in which theories covering the personal aspect of the impact process were addressed. In the study, we interviewed some current and previous regulars of religious groups by using the interview technique to determine how religious groups affect individuals. In the conclusion section, we found that the influence of religious groups on individuals is multifaceted, and that individuals ' characters, personality traits and upbringing styles contribute positively and negatively to the social impact process. Key Words: Social Impact, Compliance, Obedience, Norm, Acceptance, Religious Group, Individual, Attitude, Cognitive Contradiction, Causal Attribution, Symbolic Interaction