Lecture 15: Social Influence Flashcards
Young Werther Effect
people killing themselves after reading a book about suicide
celebrity suicide <- celebrity suicide rates associated with increase in general rate <- often use same method, no effect for celebrity death other than suicide, media blackouts can reduce suicide rates
Contagious Yawn (which people are most susceptible to contagious yawning)
people who are more empathic and have a more established theory of mind have increased contagious yawning
people with autism (without theory of mind) don’t exhibit contagious yawning
automatic behavior
rating attractive faces and what other people think experiment (like what I like)
if peer rates a face higher than you, don’t change your rating
if peer rates a face lower than you, you would change your own rating
nucleus acumbens + ventral striatum (reward center) are activated when we receive social judgments from other s <- social feedback is acting as a reward or punishment itself
how does stress influence behavior
stress breeds affiliative, conformist behavior
experiment:
people are going to do different tasks
low-stress:
high-stress: more likely to conform with other person’s facial expressions
person across the table is changing their face either happy or stressed… in high stress condition, you’re going to have a happy face if your partner also has a happy face
debate about death and dentist office (who do you sit with?)
when you’re talking about death, you’re more likely to sit within a group… even if that group is ideologically different from you
talking about a dentist, its 50/50
how did people react to 9/11? Did they fuck w the government or did they love the government
they loved the government!
in times of high stress, people united with the government like never before
asch study: which line is the same length (answering this question with a group of people)
if there are more people that say wrong, you’re more likely to say wrong answer
only 35% of people max say wrong answer, not always automatic
if you have one person who says right answer, participant is more likely to say right answer
cognitive dissonance: people are deeply conflicted <- they don’t say it was bc of other people…. say that they were really nervous
informational conformity v normative conformity
informational conformity: not having as much knowledge as everyone in the group (doing the most rational thing)
normative conformity: even though you know you’re wrong, you’re just trying to get along and don’t want to be socially excluded
look at a person for 1 second v 10 second and try to identify them in a group of people (relationship between importance and conformity)
1second (low certainty and informational conformity should kick in)
10 seconds (high certainty)
Importance reduces normative bias (it’s very important that you get right answer)
in low stake/importance environment, regardless of time you saw photo, pretty moderate levels of conformity
in high importance, you care about accuracy, with 1 second, you rely on conformity bc w/ such little information the way to be accurate is to see what other people are saying vs. with 10 seconds, you’re going to do what you know is right regardless of what the other people around you are telling you)
republican leaders and thoughts on welfare policies (generous v stringent)
without party affiliation, republicans choose stringent policy
with party support of generous policy, republicans are more in favor of generous policy
republicans trust the leaders in their group to make the right decisions
prestige diminishes overtime (nuclear powered submarines and Oppenheimer experiment ) (???)
immediately after reading trustworthy/credible source, people are more in support of credible source’s views than their own (and in comparison to least trustworthy source views)
4 weeks later…
that difference is no longer seen bc further in time, credibility in source doesn’t matter, that info is already ingrained
How do we feel when experimenters mimic us?
if experimenter mimics you immediately after you do something, you freak out
if somebody subtly mimics you, you tend to like them and more willing to help them
spillover effect: more willing to be nice to someone who isn’t the experimenter
conformity v compliance (???)
conformity: copying
compliance: purposefully trying to get other people to change their behavior
electricity bill and compliance
emojis and electricity consumption
people who are shitty energy users are more likely to conform to be closer to their more efficient neighbors (ppl who are good users aren’t impacted by this)
milgram experiment and compliance
authority and obedience will make you do crazy shit
