Psychology 2070A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Social Proof, Murder Of Reena Virk, Mass Psychogenic Illness

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

Document Summary

But its not true we are: reena virk, died in the hands of a group of highschool students. Once one of the students began attacking virk, others did too: co(cid:374)for(cid:373)it(cid:455) is (cid:374)ot si(cid:373)pl(cid:455) (cid:862)good(cid:863) or (cid:862)(cid:271)ad(cid:863) i(cid:374) a(cid:374)d of it self. Experimenter asks to estimate how far the light (cid:373)o(cid:448)es. It looked like it was moving due to autokinetic affect: stare at bright light in dark environment, like will appear to waver. This occurs because you have no stable reference point to anchor position of light: second phase of experiment: participants pared with 2 people. When task is important they are more likely to conform. When the situation is a crisis: do not have time to stop and think about the actions we should take. It is important to remember that it is possible to resist illegitimate or inaccurate information. Eg. not everyone in cult agreed to take their own lives: engage in rational problem solving.