Podcast
Questions and Answers
What influences our decisions according to the social influence theory?
What influences our decisions according to the social influence theory?
Other people's thoughts and behavior
What is the primary reason for informational social influence?
What is the primary reason for informational social influence?
Describe the autokinetic phenomenon observed in Sherif's research.
Describe the autokinetic phenomenon observed in Sherif's research.
Participants believed a stationary light moved in a dark room due to the autokinetic effect.
Conformity only occurs in response to real influence from others.
Conformity only occurs in response to real influence from others.
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What is normative social influence?
What is normative social influence?
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In Asch's Line Judgment Task, what were participants asked to do?
In Asch's Line Judgment Task, what were participants asked to do?
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What factor strongly influences conformity according to Turner (1991)?
What factor strongly influences conformity according to Turner (1991)?
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Study Notes
Social Influence
- The decisions we make are influenced by both our own thoughts and the thoughts and behaviors of others.
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Informational Social Influence - We conform because we see other people as a source of information to guide our behavior.
- Ambiguous situations or crises - We look to others to help us interpret the situation.
- Incompetent or insecure - We rely on others' knowledge and judgment when we are unsure of ourselves.
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Admiration - We are influenced by those we admire, like celebrities or experts.
- We believe their interpretations are more correct than our own.
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Normative Social Influence - We conform to be liked and accepted by others.
- Public Compliance - We conform to other people’s behavior publicly without necessarily believing in what we are doing or saying.
- Social Norms - These are the implicit or explicit rules a group has for acceptable behaviors, values, and beliefs.
Sherif's Research: The Autokinetic Phenomenon
- Participants individually estimated how much a light moved in a dark room.
- The light appeared to move, even though it was stationary - this is the autokinetic effect.
- When participants were in groups, their estimates converged on a common estimate.
- Private Acceptance - The participants genuinely came to believe the group estimate was correct, demonstrating the influence of informational social influence.
Asch's Line Judgement Task
- Participants were asked to match the length of a line to one of three comparison lines.
- The task was designed to be easy, but the participants were given incorrect answers by a group of confederates.
- Many participants conformed to the incorrect answers, despite their own perception of the correct answer.
- This demonstrates the power of normative social influence.
Conformity
- A change in one’s behavior due to the real or imagined influence of other people.
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Cohesiveness - The extent to which we are attracted to a social group and want to belong to it, influences our tendency to conform.
- The greater the cohesiveness, the more we tend to follow the group's norms.
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Contagion - The rapid spread of emotions or behaviors through a crowd can be influenced by informational social influence.
- This occurs when personal safety is threatened, and people look to others for information on how to act.
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