PHYSICS 102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Cognitive Dissonance, Social Comparison Theory, Social Influence
Document Summary
Informative social influence: in ambiguous situations, we seek orientation from others. The influence of other people that leads us to conformity because we consider it as a source of information to guide our behavior. Out of uncertainty, we use others as reference points, without necessarily being convinced of the correctness of the information. Sherif (1936): sherif conducted a classic study on conformity. Sherif put subjects in a dark room and told them to watch a pinpoint of light and say how far it moved (autokinetic effect, the light does not actually move). Dv: number of inches that the light moves . Initially sherif studied how people reacted to the light when they were alone in the room -> they established a norm for the judgement (usually between 2-6 inches). The subjects were not aware of this social influence. It was shown that group norms are established through interaction of individuals by leveling-off extreme opinions.
