Social Influences on Behavior

Mr. KochAP Psychology

Forest Lake High School

• Deindividuation– Phenomenon when a person becomes “submerged

in a group and loses sense of individuality– Tend to do things would not normally do when

alone (feel anonymous)

Social influences on motivation

• Norman Triplett (1897)– Noticed bicycle racers tended to go faster when

others were present– Experiment – 3 conditions:

– Race alone against clock– With another cyclist, but not competing– With another cyclist, in competition

• Result: went faster with another cyclist, regardless of competition

– Found similar results in experiment with adolescents winding fishing reels

• Robert Zajonc– “Social facilitation” vs. “Social impairment”• Presence of others increases general level of arousal• Arousal increases tendency to perform behaviors

that are most dominant (the ones we know best)– Improves performance for easy, familiar tasks– Performance may suffer for hard, unfamiliar

tasks

• “Social Loafing”– Exerting less effort when performing a group task than

when performing the same task alone– Harder to evaluate the performance of individuals when in group– Rewards may come to group regardless of individual giving more

effort– Group’s rewards usually divided equally rather than by effort

• Group polarization– Interaction and discussion of individuals in a group

with similar beliefs/attitudes tends to make these beliefs/attitudes more extreme• “risky shift” and “conservative shift”

• Groupthink– A pattern of thinking in which

group members fail to realistically evaluate the wisdom of various options and decisions

– Likely when place higher value on reaching decision/consensus than assuring decision is right– Best way to avoid is by

encouraging diverse perspectives and dissent to be expressed

Conformity• Changing one’s behavior or beliefs to match those

of others, generally as a result of real or imagined, though unspoken group pressure– Compliance – adjusting ones behavior because of an

explicit or implicit request

Solomon Asch’sConformity Study

• Subjects asked to pick which of 3 lines was same size as standard line – Didn’t realize that other subjects in

panels were confederates– On 6 trials, confederates would choose

the correct answer– But on 12 of the trials, created “social

reality” by all choosing the wrong line

Asch’s Conformity Study• Control condition – less than 1% of participants ever

made a mistake• Experimental condition – about 70% made at least one

error by conforming to the group norm• Conformed on over 1/3 of all responses

• Why did they conform?– Public conformity

• Didn’t believe, but saw it as socially desirable thing to do

– Private acceptance• Saw others’ responses as legitimate evidence of reality, were convinced

their own perceptions were wrong, and changed their minds

Factors influencing conformity

• Ambiguity– When something is less certain, rely more on other’s opinions

• Group Size and Unanimity– More powerful at 3 people or more– If even one person disagrees, greatly reduces conformity (<10% in Asch study)

• Social Status• Prior commitment• Culture that promotes importance of social standards• Research has shown no legitimate gender-based differences• “Minority influence” – much more rare, but can be powerful

Asch Conformity Study