Psychology 2070A/B Chapter Notes - Chapter 6: Social Proof, Mass Psychogenic Illness, Caudate Nucleus

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 2070A/B
• Professor: Heerey

Document Summary

Public compliance: need to act and act now, contagion. People conform to the behaviour of others because they genuinely believe those people are correct. A person conforms publicly without necessarily believing in what the group is saying or doing. Conformity is change in behaviour as a result of the real or imagined influence of other people. ""the need to know what"s right": using behaviour of other people for information. The influence of other people leads us to confirm because we see them as a source of info to guide our behaviour. If you stare at a bright light in a uniformly dark environment, the light will appear to waver. This occurs because you have no stable reference point to anchor the position of the light. Rapid transmission of emotions or behaviour through a crowd, ex: listening to audience: mind control, brainwashing, are extreme cases of informational social influence.