Note
Studied by 50 people
Conformity
Conformity is when people change how they act to match the people around them, even if they don’t completely agree with the behaviors or beliefs of what people are doing. This social influence can result from many factors, such as the the desire for acceptance, fear of rejection, or the perception that the group's behavior is more socially valid.
Jennes was the first social physiologist to study conformity.
In 1932 he used the numbers of beans in glass, he found after the participants learned what the others guessed they changed theirs.
Muzzar expanded on Jennes with a new experiment where participants asked to guess how far a small speck of light travel across the room they tended to guess the same.
Ashe conducted his famous line judgment experiments in 1951, which demonstrated the power of group pressure on individual judgment, revealing that many participants would conform to a group's incorrect answers.
Factors that affect conformity:
Factor: | Affect on conformity: |
Group size. | People in large groups tend to want to fit in, leading to high conformity |
Status of members | In groups someone who is seen as knowledgeable often gains peoples trust leading them to conform to their beliefs. Eg, Teacher, Professor etc |
Public vs private response, | People are more likely to choose the answer they think is correct in private response vs in a public one. |
Group think:
The chameleon affect, when we hangout with people for a long time were start to pick up traits such as speech patterns body language etc.
In 1972, social psychologist Irving Janis defined the term Groupthink. Groupthink is used to explain bad choices made my group leaders. group think results in people ignoring other alternatives and failing to consider potential consequences, ultimately leading to flawed decision-making processes. This can be seen in authoritative regimes such as the CCP.
Example:
In the People's republic of China there is a huge sense of needing to fit in this exemplified by social credit. Doing things that the CCP(Chinese Communist Party) Deems as good and socially acceptable will earn you social credit. Having a low social credit score means you have less access to services while high social credits means you gain benefits. This leads to people feeling the need to fit in and act a certain way to keep up their social credit.
Symptoms of Groupthink:
Bystander Effect:
the more people there are in a group, the less likely it is that individuals will stop to help
someone in an emergency.
On the other hand, if other people are present, the following four things happen that lead to the bystander effect:
Self-awareness: when an individual feels there is an audience, their actions may be inhibited because of the fear of making a fool of themselves in front of others.
Social cues: people look to others for cues of how to behave. So, if no one acts, it reinforces the idea that no one should act.
Blocking mechanisms: in an emergency situation where there are a lot of people around, someone stepping into act can actually block others from doing so.
Diffusion of responsibility: people assume that someone else will help so they don’t have to.
False Consensus:
Another concept that makes the influence of groups difficult to judge is false consensus the idea that most people believe others have the same viewpoints as them
Examples:
Believing that everyone thinks saving the environment is important because you do.
I hate math so everyone else does,
Assuming that most people share your preference for a specific cultural food because it is your favorite.