Chapter 9: Norms and Conformity

Question 1

descriptive social norms

Answer 1

agreed upon mental representations of what a group of people think, feel, or do

Question 2

injunctive social norms

Answer 2

agreed upon mental representations of what a group of people should think, feel, or do

Question 3

conformity

Answer 3

convergence of individuals’ thoughts, feelings, or behaviour toward a social norm

Question 4

private conformity

Answer 4

private acceptance of social norms

Question 5

public conformity

Answer 5

overt behaviour consistent with social norms that are not privately accepted

Question 6

false consensus effect

Answer 6

tendency to overestimate others’ agreement with one’s own opinions, characteristics, and behaviours

Question 7

informational influence

Answer 7

process by which group norms are privately accepted to achieve/ maintain mastery of reality

Question 8

normative influence

Answer 8

process by which group norms are privately accepted to achieve/ maintain connectedness and a valued social identity

Question 9

reference group

Answer 9

those people accepted as an appropriate source of information for a judgement because they share the attributes relevant for making that judgement

Question 10

group polarization

Answer 10

process by which a group’s initial average position becomes more extreme following group interaction

Question 11

groupthink

Answer 11

group decision making that is impaired by the drive to reach consensus regardless of how the consensus is formes

Question 12

pluralistic ignorance

Answer 12

occurs when everyone publicly conforms to an apparent norm that no one in fact privately accepts