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Conformity & Ignorance

J. Willis, PhD.
Course

Social Psychology (PSYC 104)

51 Documents
Students shared 51 documents in this course
Academic year: 2018/2019
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Washington State University

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  • Informational Social Influence o The influence of other people that leads us to conform because we see them as a source of information to guide our behavior o Usually results in private acceptance because we believe that others interpretations of an ambiguous situation is more correct than ours and will help us choose an appropriate course of action o Ambiguity is the most crucial factor for informational influence. o Contagion - The rapid spread of emotions or behaviors through a crowd - In a truly ambiguous and confusing situation, other people may be no more knowledgeable or accurate than we are. We may adopt their mistakes and misinterpretations - Depending on other s to help us define the situation can lead us to serious inaccuracies

  • Normative social influence o The influence of other people that leads us to conform in order to be liked and accepted o Usually results in public compliance with the group's beliefs and behaviors but not private acceptance. o Polarization Effect - Normative social influence leads to greater polarization between groups. o Asch: - Don’t want to feel peculiar/outcast (even in front of complete strangers) - Belief that what others think is important, even if they are strangers ▪ 76% of participants conformed on at least one trial ▪ 25% never conformed at all - Diminishing effect: adding more people had little influence on conformity - When participant had an "ally" conformity dropped to 6% vs 32% without ally o US Supreme Court - Most common decision ratio: unanimous, 9-0 vote; 35% of decisions

  • Least common decision ratio: single dissenter 8-1 vote; 10% of decisions o Meta-analysis of 145 studies

  • Gender differences are very small

  • But when researcher was male, females were found to conform more

  • Gender of the person conducting conformity studies makes a difference: suggests that there is an issue in the way research is conducted. o Privacy Variation: Conformity dropped dramatically when participants answered privately on paper instead of publicly saying them out loud. o Sherif: ambiguous, stronger effect for private acceptance, need to know what's right o Asch: unambiguous, stronger effect for public compliance, need to be accepted.

  • Generational conformity / Cultural Lag o Confederates told to give estimates of 15-16 inches o Oldest member phased out every generation o Normative and Informational influence persisted 5 generations beyond last confed. o Anachronistic (inherited) norms and cultural lag (some subjects never got it right)

  • Pluralistic Ignorance o When a norm is privately unpopular but publicly accepted by a majority because they mistakenly think that the view is popularly held by majority o No one believes, but everyone thinks that everyone believes o Princeton students overestimated people's comfort with drinking on campus o Majority were uncomfortable, but when asked what everyone thinks they reported that a majority loved it > misperceived norm o People tended to assimilate to the norm over the course of the semester causing the discrepancy between their underlying beliefs and their perception of everyone else's to decrease o Their attitude eventually fell in line with their public behavior. What is this called? o Thus, the previously unpopular norm becomes popular

▪ 21/22 actually agreed to administer the drug o The Milgram studies

  • Most famous series of studies in social psych ▪ Arrive at laboratory, meet another participant, 47 years old, somewhat overweight, pleasant looking ▪ Experimenter wearing a white lab coat, explains that one of you will play the role of a teacher and the other a learner. ▪ How many people do you think would continue to obey the experimenter to 450 volts.
  • When experimenter in same room
  • If you are in same room as victim
  • If others rebel
  • If you have to touch the victim
  • We obey and conform based on situations regardless of our personality
  • Ethical? ▪ Too much harm to human subjects ▪ Subjects must leave in the same state they arrived ▪ Inadequate debriefing o Power of the Situation
  • If you wanted to know whether someone would obey, you'd want to know what condition of the study they were in. ▪ Not their background, parental relationships, personality
  • Women shocked puppies all the way without exception
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Conformity & Ignorance

Course: Social Psychology (PSYC 104)

51 Documents
Students shared 51 documents in this course

University: University of California San Diego

Was this document helpful?
• Informational Social Influence
o The influence of other people that leads us to conform because we see them as
a source of information to guide our behavior
o Usually results in private acceptance because we believe that others
interpretations of an ambiguous situation is more correct than ours and will
help us choose an appropriate course of action
o Ambiguity is the most crucial factor for informational influence.
o Contagion
• The rapid spread of emotions or behaviors through a crowd
• In a truly ambiguous and confusing situation, other people may be no
more knowledgeable or accurate than we are. We may adopt their
mistakes and misinterpretations
• Depending on other s to help us define the situation can lead us to serious
inaccuracies
• Normative social influence
o The influence of other people that leads us to conform in order to be liked and
accepted
o Usually results in public compliance with the group's beliefs and behaviors but
not private acceptance.
o Polarization Effect
• Normative social influence leads to greater polarization between groups.
o Asch:
• Don’t want to feel peculiar/outcast (even in front of complete strangers)
• Belief that what others think is important, even if they are strangers
▪ 76% of participants conformed on at least one trial
▪ 25% never conformed at all
• Diminishing effect: adding more people had little influence on
conformity
• When participant had an "ally" conformity dropped to 6% vs 32% without
ally
o US Supreme Court
• Most common decision ratio: unanimous, 9-0 vote; 35% of decisions

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