PSYC 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 19: Social Proof, Peer Pressure, Pluralistic Ignorance

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 100
• Professor: Jill L Atkinson

Document Summary

The study of social influence examines how people influence others" behavior and attitudes, and there are many reason why it is important. Social influences explain group behavior, including peer pressure and the tendency to act like the people around you (including joining a mosh pit) Conformity adjusting one"s attitudes and behaviors to convinced with a group norm. Informational influence a form of social influence that leads a person to conform because he or she believes others are credible and have more information. People conform because they believe others are correct in their judgments. In difficult or ambiguous tasks, it is natural to assume that several people are more knowledgeable than one. Normative influence a form of social influence that leads a person to conform because he or she fears the consequences of deviating from group norms. People conform because they fear the consequences of appearing deviant.