SP Chapter 9: Groups, norms and conformity Flashcards
face to face groups
groups that are formed because members share a common goal, or to complete a task.
bv lab groups, sport team
social groups do not ….
have to interact -> gender bijvoorbeeld
what is an advantage of face to face groups
they have a direct influence
similarity between social norms and attitudes
both are cognitive representations of correct/appropriate ways of thinking, behaving, and feeling in response to social objects and events
differences attitudes and social norms
attitude = individuals evaluation
norm = groups evaluation
descriptive social norms
what people actually do/think/feel
injunctive norms / prescriptive norms
what people think they should think/feel/do
sherifs experiment
Consider, for example, Muzafer Sherif’s (1936) classic demonstration of a group’s
power to affect its members’ beliefs. Each participant in Sherif’s experiment first sat alone
in a totally dark room and focused on a single point of light. As the participant watched,
the light seemed to jump erratically and then disappear. Seconds later the light again
appeared, moved, and disappeared. Each time the light appeared, the observer had to
estimate how far it moved. In fact, the light did not move at all. Because a dark room
provides no points of reference, a stationary point of light appears to careen in a jagged
circle, but this is just an optical illusion. Given the ambiguity of the situation, it is not
surprising that the participants’ original distance estimates differed, ranging from barely
an inch to nearly a foot.
These numbers changed dramatically, however, when participants returned to the
lab in the following days to judge the light’s movement, this time as members of threeperson
groups. As they heard one another’s estimates of the light’s movement, group
members’ responses began to converge until they were nearly identical (see Figure 9.1).
And these shared estimates had lasting power: As much as a year later, these participants
continued to use the common response when judging the light, even when alone (Rohrer,
Baron, Hoffman, & Schwander, 1954).
In coming to this collective agreement, group members established a social norm,
or consensus, about the movement of the light
sherifs experiment kort
ambiguous situation about light distance: when they were put in a group of 3, people conformed to the common estimate.
= auto-kinetic effect
conformity =
the convergence of individuals thoughts, feelings or behaviour towards a social norm
why does conformity occur
- normative: want to fit in with the group
- informative: believe that the group knows better
private conformity
occurs when people are truly persuaded that the group is right, when they willingly and privately accept group norms as their own beliefs, even if the group is no longer physically present.
-> bijvoorbeeld bij Sherif experiment!
public conformity
occurs when people respond to real or imagined pressure and behave consistently with norms that they do not privately accept as correct. Public conformity produces only a surface change: People pretend to go along with the group norm in what they say or do, but privately they do not think the group is right.
-> bijvoorbeeld bij Asch’s experiment!
waarom waren de resultaten van Asch en Sherif niet verwacht op basis van cultuur
individualistic cultures: value individual autonomy (dus private/public conformity wordt soms negatief gezien)
participants in social experiments often deny having been affected, why?
- underestimate own susceptibility
- negative cultural connotations of conformity
maar… anderen wel inschatten als er in trappen. en ook al kunnen ze het wel aan de resultaten zien
false consensus effect
the tendency to overestimate others’ agreement with one’s own opinions, characteristics, and behaviors
why does the false consensus effect occur
- because people think their own thoughts are right -> common reality = mastery
- agreement –> motivation to bond, certainty -> belonging = connectedness
1 woord voor asch experiment =
conformity
asch: the amount of influence increased when the group size increased…
up until 3 ppl answering incorrectly, daarna bleef het een beetje gelijk
what did adding of an ally do to the participants
decreased conformity to 10% -> dus een ally die met de participanten agrees leidt tot minder conformity.
zelfs als de confederate het verkeerde antwoord gaf of dropped out after a few responses
when the size of the dissenting minority increases, the majorities opinion seems more and more open to question, and is less likely to be adopted
the descriptive norm is not uniformly held -> no more power to persuade.
how do norms lead to connectedness
conforming to group norms helps to reconfirm our social identity
normative influence
the process by which group norms are privately accepted to
achieve or maintain connectedness and a valued social identity
–> dus informational and normative influence gaat over private acceptance!
oxytocin role in conformity and norms
oxytocin increases conformity to one’s group and people adopt group norms when they are reminded of their membership
reference group
those people accepted as an appropriate source of information for a judgment because they share the attributes relevant for making that judgment
wie kies je voor een opinion-based or value-laden judgement
people with similar values attitudes or relationships (dus vaak in-groups!).
how does the in-group membership act
as a persuasion heuristic -> especially when motivation / capacity are low.
in-group info receives more systematic processing than outgroup
