PSY 0105 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Field Experiment, Stanford Prison Experiment
Document Summary
Social norms: rules or guidelines in a group or culture about what behaviors are proper or improper (explicit and implicit) Conformity: the tendency to change perceptions, opinions, or behavior in ways that are consistent with group norms. Participant in a dark room shown a single point of light. Estimate the distance the light moves (light is stationary but appears to move; difficult and ambiguous task) Do the task alone and then with other participants in the room. Came to an average (conforming when the correct answer was unclear) 6 business professional looking confederates and one college-aged male. All confederates picked the line that was wrong. Half of the participants chose the wrong answer half of the time. We believe that others are correct in their judgment (online reviews) = informational influence. Private conformity: change in both overt behavior and beliefs. We fear consequences of appearing deviant = normative influence. Public conformity: superficial change in overt behavior only.
