Social Influence 1: Social Influence 1: Conformity Conformity 21 January 2004
Social Influence 1:Social Influence 1:ConformityConformity
21 January 2004
Why Conform?Why Conform?
Our sanity depends to some degree on the belief that everyone sees the same world that we see
If this belief is challenged, we’d rather change what we see (or what we say we see) than admit to ourselves (or others) that we see a different world
ConformityConformity
Conformity• Acting at odds with your beliefs or perceptions
because of pressure from othersCompliance vs internalizationNormative vs. Informational
pressure/influence– Cialdini littering experiment– Drisball & Muller jaywalking experiment
Jaywalking (Drisball & Muller)Jaywalking (Drisball & Muller)
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BL No JW JW
% ja
ywal
king
Solomon Asch:Compliance in an
Unambiguous
Situation
A B CStimulus
Asch Line Judgment Asch Line Judgment ExperimentsExperiments
You cannot be serious!You cannot be serious!
AschAsch
Results:• 33% went along with the group on a majority of the
trials• 25% remained completely independent• 75% conformed at least once
When tested alone (no confederates), subjects got more than 98% of the judgments correct
When tested with confederates, they only got 66% of the judgments correct
Why conform?Why conform?
Confusion • Informational pressure
Embarrassment• Normative pressure
2 more versions of the experiment
Compliance, NOT internalization
Sherif (1936)Sherif (1936)
Ambiguous situation– Autokinetic effect
Informational pressure: 1 year follow-up– Internalization, NOT
compliance Version B of the
experiment and what that tells us
How to reduce conformity?How to reduce conformity?
Preferences vs Facts• Crutchfield (1955)• Asch-type paradigm but with drawings• No conformity• Why?
Lone Dissenters• Devil’s advocates• Other versions of Asch
Minority InfluenceMinority Influence
How do minority groups change things?Moscovici experiment: a minority of
confederates give a plausible but incorrect answer in front of a majority of subjects
Minorities must be consistent:• Direct effect• Latent effect
Moscovici Data:Moscovici Data:Direct EffectDirect Effect
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consistent inconsistent not present
% S
s sa
ying
“gr
een”
Confederates