Social Psych Lecture 24 - Social Influence II

Conformity

A change in behavior or attitude brought about by a desire to follow the beliefs or standards of others

Types of Influence in Conformity Situations

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Informational influence

based on accepting evidence about reality provided by other people

Normative influence

based on a person’s desire to fulfill others’ expectations, often to gain acceptance. Going along with the crowd regardless of one’s actual beliefs

Sherif (1936)

Autokinetic effect - an optical illusion

1. Seated in dark room and asked to estimate how much stationary light moved

2. Next day, returned and did task again with 2 others. Each stated estimate out loud

3. Repeated 3rd and 4th day

Results

Informational Influence - Extreme Examples

1. War of the Worlds

   1. Many Americans believed that the radio broadcast was real and that the country was being invaded by martians

2. Koro

   1. Some east Asian cultures believed that genital shrinkage is caused by ghosts, leads to mass hysteria

Normative Influence

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Asch

1. Given unambiguous line matching task - state which comparison line matched standard line

2. Two conditions:

   1. Control

   2. Group condition - some trials confederates gave wrong response

Results

DV: % of times subject gave incorrect answer on critical trials

Results:

1. Control condition = <1%

2. Group condition = 37%

75% gave incorrect answer at least once

Factors Influencing When People Conform

1. Group size

2. Cohesiveness of group

3. Unanimity in group

4. Status of group members

5. Prior commitment

Group size

• Asymptotes at five

• Doesn’t take a lot of people doing something to encourage conformity

Resisting Conformity

1. Reactance

• All forms of conformity will backfire if reactance is triggered

2. Desire for uniqueness

• We resist conformity because we want to be different from others 

• The minority voice is looked at as competent, but they are also rejected

Factors that Influence Minority Influence

1. Consistency

2. Confidence

3. Flexible and open-minded, not rigid

4. Not too deviant from the majority

5. Originally held the majority position

Sum of Research on Majority and Minority Influence

Majority influence: public, normative

Minority influence: private, informational

Brainstorming

group members encouraged to produce as many ideas as possible in uninhibited way

Does it work

No - research shows that people work better when they make their own ideas and then come together to share them

Brainstorming: Direct and Indirect Influences

• Direct influence: Negative

• Production blocking - failure of members to express ideas due to norm that only 1 person talks at a time

• Indirect influence: may be positive in long run due to increased a) enjoyment and b) group cohesiveness