PSYC 1000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 20: Cognitive Dissonance, Social Proof, Normative Social Influence

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 1000
• Professor: Lisa Giguere

Document Summary

Sherif (1935) placed participants in an ambiguous situation: used the auto-kinetic effect: staring at light in a dark room, nerves in eyes tire, dot appears to move, asked people to predict how much dot moves. When the situation is ambiguous the actions of others (verbal and non- verbal) helps us figure out reality (follow norms when situation is unclear) We don"t like to feel alone, want to know what everyone else thinks, often when there"s nothing objective. Often happens when we do not have well-learned norms for a particular situation (making it ambiguous: eg. In sherif"s work there was no objective reference point (all subjective) Many acknowledge afterwards that they knew the response was wrong, but they were afraid of being ridiculed by others. Shows good social skills actually, not weak for purposefully giving incorrect answer: good social skills comes with an awareness of social conventions and cues.