POL SCI 164A Lecture Notes - Lecture 20: Social Influence, Normative Social Influence, Ingroups And Outgroups
30 Apr 2018
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PS 164A Lecture 4/10 Social Influence
Ash paradigm
● Pressure increases with the size of the majority
● Publicly conform but privately disagree
Sherif study
● Autokinetic effect
○ Worked with groups of people all at once
○ All naive subjects
○ Had many different kinds of light images
○ Trials - have people record answers on if image was pulsing, moving up and
down or not
○ The group came to converge in their answers
○ Conformity emerges over time in groups
○ Applicable to work groups, couples, etc
■ You may be very different at the start but after a period of time you will
become more similar
○ After subjects engaged in tasks, they got to know each other
■ Conformity was partially due to the fact that they bonded and connected
■ Conformity is more likely to arise in cohesive groups
● Cohesive group characteristics
○ Members care about each other
○ Members care about membership in group
Different motives for conforming
● Information motive
○ What other people say or do gives you information
● Social approval motive
○ If you deviate, you will face social disapproval
○ Deviating is painful - negative attention, less liked, etc.
● People are conforming for an automatic reason
○ People are just imitating
○ A “contagion”
○ Mindless conformity
○ Not much theory on this one
● Applies only to formal groups - conformity pressure comes because unanimity is more
effective for group goals or group success
Document Summary
Pressure increases with the size of the majority. Worked with groups of people all at once. Had many different kinds of light images. Trials - have people record answers on if image was pulsing, moving up and down or not. The group came to converge in their answers. You may be very different at the start but after a period of time you will become more similar. After subjects engaged in tasks, they got to know each other. Conformity was partially due to the fact that they bonded and connected. Conformity is more likely to arise in cohesive groups. What other people say or do gives you information. If you deviate, you will face social disapproval. Deviating is painful - negative attention, less liked, etc. People are conforming for an automatic reason. Applies only to formal groups - conformity pressure comes because unanimity is more effective for group goals or group success.
