PSYC 231 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Pluralistic Ignorance
22 Jun 2018
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CONFORMITY
Tendency to change perceptions, opinions, or behavior in ways that are consistent with
group norms
o Group norms:
Implicit or explicit rules about how to behave
Standing for national anthem
Leave a tip for waiters
Wait our turns in lines
Dress like everyone else
Three Classic Conformity Studies
o Sherif’s autokinetic effect study (1936)
Autokinetic Effect
No reference point in the dark, so by staring at a light the light appears to
move
P in dark room shown a single point of light
Task: Estimate distance that light moves
Difficult & ambiguous task
Light is stationary but appears to move
Do task first alone, then with other Ps in the room
o Asch’s line judgment study (1951)
6 confederates, 1 real P
Confeds start out picking right line
Then, confeds pick same, wrong line
Repeated trials
DV: Will real P conform?
Document Summary
Tendency to change perceptions, opinions, or behavior in ways that are consistent with group norms: group norms: Implicit or explicit rules about how to behave. Three classic conformity studies: sherif"s autoki(cid:374)etic effect stud(cid:455) (cid:894)193(cid:1010)(cid:895) No reference point in the dark, so by staring at a light the light appears to move. P in dark room shown a single point of light. Do task first alone, then with other ps in the room: asch"s li(cid:374)e judg(cid:373)e(cid:374)t stud(cid:455) (cid:894)19(cid:1009)1(cid:895) Dv: will real p conform: milgra(cid:373)"s shock e(cid:454)peri(cid:373)e(cid:374)t. Experiment where participant asks questions to another participant (actor) With each wrong answer voltage was increased: people were able to commit acts against their conscience, similar to germans during nazi reign. Conform b/c we believe others are correct in their judgments. Desire to be right: normative influence: Conform b/c we fear consequences of appearing deviant. Eyewitnesses shift perceptions of events based on others.
