SOCPSY 1Z03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Penrod, Groupthink, Social Forces

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Social Psychology
• Course: SOCPSY 1Z03
• Professor: Paul Galvin

Document Summary

A type of social influence involving a change in belief or behaviour in order to fit in with a group. Depends on the structure of the situation. Tendency to align our behaviours with shared norms. Participants rated pleasant odors: ratings were more extreme when they were alone, less extreme in the presence of others (moderation effect) Presence of other people shape how we see things. People adjust responses in the presence of others. First indication that individuals are shaped by the pressure to conform. Wanted to see how people evaluated ambiguous answers (no right answer) Auto-kinetic effect = visual perception phenomenon: stationary, small point of light in a dark environment appears to move die to involuntary eye movement. Asked participants how far the dot was moving in inches. Test 1: continuously asking participants about movement alone, large variation between individuals. Test 2: test repeated in groups of three, initial variation between individuals, overtime, the answers converged to a group average.