Question

Dusty's neighbors are avid churchgoers who believe strongly in the power of prayer and divine healing. When their toddler daughter is diagnosed with a brain tumor that surgeons are able to completely remove, they publicly credit prayer and divine intercession. Dusty, an agnostic, is invited to a party celebrating the child's return from the hospital. Although he thinks the child's recovery is most likely due to the skill of her surgeon, he agrees with the family that prayer and intercession were responsible. Dusty's behavior is best described as _____.

Answer 1

public compliance

Step-by-step explanation:

Public compliance refers to a type of action that is heavily influenced by the pressure or coercion of social group that we belong to rather than our own will.

We can see this from the case above.

Dusty is an agnostic. He doesn't believe that the child's recovery is caused by the God. When he was invited to the religious event, he felt a pressure to conform to the neighbors' view and agree with them when they say 'prayer and intercession were responsible'.

Since he is an agnostic, we can conclude that Dusty said that because of social pressure rather than his own belief.