Normative social influence

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Normative social influence is a type of social influence that leads to conformity. It is defined in social psychology as "...the influence of other people that leads us to conform in order to be liked and accepted by them." [1] The power of normative social influence stems from the human identity as a social being, with a need for companionship and association. [2]

Contents

Normative social influence involves a change in behaviour that is deemed necessary in order to fit in a particular group. [3] The need for a positive relationship with the people around leads us to conformity. [4] This fact often leads to people exhibiting public compliance—but not necessarily private acceptance—of the group's social norms in order to be accepted by the group. [5] Social norms refers to the unwritten rules that govern social behavior. [6] These are customary standards for behavior that are widely shared by members of a culture. [6]

In many cases, normative social influence serves to promote social cohesion. When a majority of group members conform to social norms, the group generally becomes more stable. This stability translates into social cohesion, which allows group members to work together toward a common understanding, or "good," but also has the unintended impact of making the group members less individualistic. [7]

Research

Classic research

In 1955, Solomon Asch conducted his classic conformity experiments in an attempt to discover if people still conform when the right answer is obvious. [8] Specifically, he asked participants in his experiment to judge the similarity of lines, an easy task by objective standards. Using accomplices to the plot, also known as confederates, Asch created the illusion that an entire group of participants believed something that was clearly false (i.e., that dissimilar lines were actually similar). In this situation, participants conformed over 36% of the time on trials where the confederates gave blatantly false answers. When asked to make the judgments in private, participants gave the right answer more than 99% of the time. Asch's results cannot be explained by informational social influence, because in this case, the task was easy and the correct answer was obvious. Thus, participants were not necessarily looking to others to figure out the right answer, as informational social influence predicts. Instead, they were seeking acceptance and avoiding disapproval. Follow-up interviews with participants of the original Asch studies confirmed this. When participants were asked why they conformed, many provided reasons other than a need for accuracy. [8]

Current research

In more current research, Schultz (1999) found that households that received more normative messages describing the frequency and amount of weekly recycling began to have a direct impact on both the households' frequency and amount of their curbside recycling. The sudden change was due to the fact that "the other neighbors'" recycling habits had a direct normative effect on the household to change their recycling behaviors. Similar results were apparent in another study in which researchers were able to increase household energy conservation through the use of normative messages. [9] Participants in this conservation study did not believe that such normative messages could influence their behavior; they attributed their conservation efforts to environmental concerns or social responsibility needs. Thus, normative social influence can be a very powerful, yet unconscious, motivator of behavior.[ citation needed ]

Consequences

Lastly, different studies have illustrated the consequences of deviation from a group's influence. In a study by Schachter (1951), participants were placed in groups and asked to discuss what to do with a juvenile delinquent they had read about. [10] A "deviant" was instructed by the experimenter to take a stand strongly opposing that of the rest of the group and to hold this position in the midst of any arguments from other members. After the conclusion of the discussions, participants chose to reject this deviant the most, considering him the least desirable of the members, and relegating him to the least important tasks. Recent work by Berns et al. (2005) examined the physiological effects of deviation by using fMRI to scan participants' brains as they completed an object rotation task with other "participants", who were actually confederates. The researchers were interested in examining participants' brain activity when they were under pressure to conform to an incorrect group majority. The amygdala region (which is associated with negative emotions) was activated when participants sought to break off from the influence of the majority; providing support for the point that resisting normative social influence can often lead to negative emotional consequences for individuals. [11]

Affecting factors

Social impact theory

Latane's social impact theory posits that three factors influence the extent to which we conform to group norms: personal importance, immediacy, and size. [2] As the group becomes more important to a person, physically closer to him/her, and larger in number, Social Impact Theory predicts that conformity to group norms will increase. However, the size of the group only affects conformity to an extent—as a group expands past 3–5 members, the effect levels off. [12]

Unanimity

When a group is unanimous in its support of a norm, an individual feels greater pressure to follow suit. [2] However, even a small break in unanimity can lead to a decrease in the power of such normative influence. In Asch's study, when even one other confederate dissented from the majority and provided the correct answer, the participant answered incorrectly on fewer trials (about a fourth less). [8] In addition, participants experienced positive emotions towards such dissenters. A similar reduction in conformity even occurred when the dissenting confederate provided an answer that was false (but still different from that of the majority).[ citation needed ]

In some versions of the experiment, Asch had dissenting confederates eventually rejoin the majority opinion after several trials; when this occurred, participants experienced greater pressure from normative influence and conformed as if they had never had the dissenter on their side. [8] However, when the conditions were altered and the dissenting confederate left the room after several trials, the participants did not experience a similar pressure to conform as they had when the confederate rejoined the majority—they made fewer mistakes than they had in the condition where the confederate rejoined the others.[ citation needed ]

Private vs. public

The pressure to bend to normative influence increases for actions performed in public, whereas this pressure decreases for actions done in private. [13] In another variation of the Asch study, the researchers allowed the participant to privately write down his answer after all of the confederates had publicly stated their answers; this variation reduced the level of conformity among participants. [14] In addition, the control condition of the Asch study revealed that participants were almost perfectly accurate when answering independently.[ citation needed ]

Minority influence

It is possible for a vocal minority to stem the normative influence of a larger majority. [2] [12] In the versions of the Asch study where a dissenter was inserted into the group (see Unanimity section), his presence as a minority member gave the participant the confidence to exert his independence to a greater extent. [8] However, as soon as the dissenter waffled on his opinions and rejoined the majority, participant conformity increased. Thus, a minority must consistently stand by its beliefs to be effective.[ citation needed ]

In addition, there are other factors that increase the power of the minority: when the majority is forced to think about the beliefs and perspective of the minority, when the majority and minority are similar to one another, and when the minority exhibits some willingness to compromise and be flexible, although there is debate over the degree to which consistency and compromise should be balanced. [15]

It is often the case that whereas a majority influences public compliance with a norm, a minority can engender private acceptance of a new norm, with the result often being conversion (public and private acceptance of a norm). [15]

Cultural differences

There is a distinction between individualistic (e.g., United States) and collectivistic (e.g., Japan) cultures. [2] [12] While some predict that collectivistic cultures would exhibit stronger conformity under normative social influence, this is not necessarily the case—the identity of the group acts as a potential moderator. Because collectivists emphasize the importance of in-group members (e.g., family and friends), normative pressure from in-groups can lead to higher conformity than pressures from strangers.[ citation needed ]

Gender differences

Many have long wondered whether there is a gender gap in conformity under normative influence, with women possibly conforming more than men. A meta-analysis by Eagly and Carli (1981) shows that this gap is small, and driven by public vs. private situations. [16] Women do conform (slightly) more under normative influence than do men when in public situations as opposed to private ones. Eagly and Carli found that male researchers reported higher levels of conformity among female participants than did female researchers; the authors speculate that each gender could be implicitly biased towards portraying itself in a positive light, thus leading to actions (e.g., setting up experimental conditions under which males or females may be more comfortable) that might favor one gender over the other.[ citation needed ]

Examples

Fashion choices are often impacted by normative social influence. To feel accepted by a particular crowd, men and women often dress similarly to individuals in that group. Fashion conformity promotes social cohesion within the group and can be a result of both conscious and unconscious motivations.

Similar to fashion conformity, the male and the female views of the ideal body image are often affected by normative social influence. [2] Social media and marketing helps to portray what is commonly considered the current view of physical attractiveness by the masses. As each generation defines the ideal female figure, women feel the pressure to conform to avoid the disapproval of others. Likewise, as society continues to define the ideal male body type as muscular and fit, men also come under pressure to conform, which often leads to changes in eating habits to reach that ideal.[ citation needed ]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social psychology</span> Study of social effects on peoples thoughts, feelings, and behaviors

Social psychology is the scientific study of how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people or by social norms. Social psychologists typically explain human behavior as a result of the relationship between mental states and social situations, studying the social conditions under which thoughts, feelings, and behaviors occur, and how these variables influence social interactions.

The bandwagon effect is the tendency for people to adopt certain behaviors, styles, or attitudes simply because others are doing so. More specifically, it is a cognitive bias by which public opinion or behaviours can alter due to particular actions and beliefs rallying amongst the public. It is a psychological phenomenon whereby the rate of uptake of beliefs, ideas, fads and trends increases with respect to the proportion of others who have already done so. As more people come to believe in something, others also "hop on the bandwagon" regardless of the underlying evidence.

Communal reinforcement is a social phenomenon in which a concept or idea is repeatedly asserted in a community, regardless of whether sufficient empirical evidence has been presented to support it. Over time, the concept or idea is reinforced to become a strong belief in many people's minds, and may be regarded by the members of the community as fact. Often, the concept or idea may be further reinforced by publications in the mass media, books, or other means of communication. The phrase "millions of people can't all be wrong" is indicative of the common tendency to accept a communally reinforced idea without question, which often aids in the widespread acceptance of factoids. A very similar term to this term is community-reinforcement, which is a behavioral method to stop drug addiction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solomon Asch</span> Polish-American psychologist

Solomon Eliot Asch (September 14, 1907 – February 20, 1996) was a Polish-American Gestalt psychologist and pioneer in social psychology. He created seminal pieces of work in impression formation, prestige suggestion, conformity, and many other topics. His work follows a common theme of Gestalt psychology that the whole is not only greater than the sum of its parts, but the nature of the whole fundamentally alters the parts. Asch stated: "Most social acts have to be understood in their setting, and lose meaning if isolated. No error in thinking about social facts is more serious than the failure to see their place and function". Asch is most well known for his conformity experiments, in which he demonstrated the influence of group pressure on opinions. A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Asch as the 41st most cited psychologist of the 20th century.

The spiral of silence theory is a political science and mass communication theory proposed by the German political scientist Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann. It states that an individual's perception of the distribution of public opinion influences that individual's willingness to express his own opinions, which in turn affects the perceptions and, ultimately, willingness of others to express their opinions. The main idea is that people influence one another's willingness to express opinions through social interaction. According to the spiral of silence theory, individuals will be more confident and outward with their opinion when they notice that their personal opinion is shared throughout a group. But if the individual notices that his opinion is unpopular with the group he will be more inclined to be reserved and remain silent. In other words, from the individual's perspective, "not isolating himself is more important than his own judgement", meaning his perception of how others in the group perceive him is more important to himself than the need for his opinion to be heard.

Social influence comprises the ways in which individuals adjust their behavior to meet the demands of a social environment. It takes many forms and can be seen in conformity, socialization, peer pressure, obedience, leadership, persuasion, sales, and marketing. Typically social influence results from a specific action, command, or request, but people also alter their attitudes and behaviors in response to what they perceive others might do or think. In 1958, Harvard psychologist Herbert Kelman identified three broad varieties of social influence.

  1. Compliance is when people appear to agree with others but actually keep their dissenting opinions private.
  2. Identification is when people are influenced by someone who is liked and respected, such as a famous celebrity.
  3. Internalization is when people accept a belief or behavior and agree both publicly and privately.

In psychology, the Asch conformity experiments or the Asch paradigm were a series of studies directed by Solomon Asch studying if and how individuals yielded to or defied a majority group and the effect of such influences on beliefs and opinions.

Communication in small groups consists of three or more people who share a common goal and communicate collectively to achieve it. During small group communication, interdependent participants analyze data, evaluate the nature of the problem(s), decide and provide a possible solution or procedure. Additionally, small group communication provides strong feedback, unique contributions to the group as well as a critical thinking analysis and self-disclosure from each member. Small groups communicate through an interpersonal exchange process of information, feelings and active listening in both two types of small groups: primary groups and secondary groups.

Social proof is a psychological and social phenomenon wherein people copy the actions of others in choosing how to behave in a given situation. The term was coined by Robert Cialdini in his 1984 book Influence: Science and Practice.

Herd mentality describes how people can be influenced by the majority.

Deindividuation is a concept in social psychology that is generally thought of as the loss of self-awareness in groups, although this is a matter of contention. For the social psychologist, the level of analysis is the individual in the context of a social situation. As such, social psychologists emphasize the role of internal psychological processes. Other social scientists, such as sociologists, are more concerned with broad social, economic, political, and historical factors that influence events in a given society.

Minority influence, a form of social influence, takes place when a member of a minority group influences the majority to accept the minority's beliefs or behavior. This occurs when a small group or an individual acts as an agent of social change by questioning established societal perceptions, and proposing alternative, original ideas which oppose the existing social norms. There are two types of social influence: majority influence and minority influence. Majority influence refers to the majority trying to produce conformity on the minority, while minority influence is converting the majority to adopt the thinking of the minority group. Unlike other forms of influence, minority influence is often thought of as a more innovative form of social change, because it usually involves a personal shift in private opinion. Examples of minority influence include the civil rights movement in the United States and the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa.

Compliance is a response—specifically, a submission—made in reaction to a request. The request may be explicit or implicit. The target may or may not recognize that they are being urged to act in a particular way.

Behavioral contagion is a form of social contagion involving the spread of behavior through a group. It refers to the propensity for a person to copy a certain behavior of others who are either in the vicinity, or whom they have been exposed to. The term was originally used by Gustave Le Bon in his 1895 work The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind to explain undesirable aspects of behavior of people in crowds. In the digital age, behavioral contagion is also concerned with the spread of online behavior and information. A variety of behavioral contagion mechanisms were incorporated in models of collective human behavior.

Conformity is the act of matching attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors to group norms, politics or being like-minded. Norms are implicit, specific rules, shared by a group of individuals, that guide their interactions with others. People often choose to conform to society rather than to pursue personal desires - because it is often easier to follow the path others have made already, rather than forging a new one. Thus, conformity is sometimes a product of group communication. This tendency to conform occurs in small groups and/or in society as a whole and may result from subtle unconscious influences, or from direct and overt social pressure. Conformity can occur in the presence of others, or when an individual is alone. For example, people tend to follow social norms when eating or when watching television, even if alone.

Memory conformity, also known as social contagion of memory, is the phenomenon where memories or information reported by others influences an individual and is incorporated into the individual's memory. Memory conformity is a memory error due to both social influences and cognitive mechanisms. Social contamination of false memory can be exemplified in prominent situations involving social interactions, such as eyewitness testimony. Research on memory conformity has revealed that such suggestibility and errors with source monitoring has far reaching consequences, with important legal and social implications. It is one of many social influences on memory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social experiment</span> Psychological or sociological research

A social experiment is a type of psychological or sociological research that observes people's reactions to certain situations or events. The experiment depends on a particular social approach where the main source of information is the participants' point of view and knowledge. To carry out a social experiment, specialists usually split participants into two groups — active participants and respondents. Throughout the experiment, specialists monitor participants to identify the effects and differences resulting from the experiment. A conclusion is then created based on the results. Intentional communities are generally considered social experiments.

Anticonformity (counterconformity) refers to when an individual consciously and deliberately challenges the position or actions of the group. Anticonformity is not merely the absence of conformity. Anticonformity can be a response to certain context and social pressure or expectations. Anticonformity commonly takes place in a group environment where other individuals might differ in opinion. Individuals who display anticonformity behaviours are internally motivated to disrupt the balance of the group. Further, anticonformist individuals are motivated by rebelliousness and are not influenced by social forces or norms. Anticonformity has been labelled a dependent behaviour as its manifestation is dependent on the group’s position in regard to an event or situation.

Conversion theory is Serge Moscovici's conceptual analysis of the cognitive and interpersonal processes that mediate the direct and indirect impact of a consistent minority on the majority. Initially, Moscovici's conversion theory of minority influence began as a minority opinion that was rejected by many researchers, but eventually members of opposition validated it, thus confirming the theory's exact predictions. Asch's studies highlighted the power that majorities have over groups and their subsequent conformity, but Moscovici was more interested in the power exerted by minorities.

Interpersonal influence is a type of social influence which results from group members encouraging, or forcing, conformity while discouraging, and possibly punishing, nonconformity. It is one of three types of social influences that lead people to conform to the majority, or the group's norms. The other two types are influence are informational influence and normative influence.

References

  1. ↑ Aronson, E., Wilson, T.D., & Akert, A.M. (2005). Social Psychology (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. [ page needed ]
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Aronson, Eliot; Timothy Wilson; Robin Akert. "Conformity: Influencing Behavior". Social Psychology. Pearson. Retrieved 15 November 2013.
  3. ↑ Reiss, Steven (2012-04-01). "Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation". Teaching of Psychology. 39 (2): 152–156. doi:10.1177/0098628312437704. ISSN   0098-6283. S2CID   145100194.
  4. ↑ DeWall, C. Nathan; Bushman, Brad J. (2011-08-01). "Social Acceptance and Rejection: The Sweet and the Bitter". Current Directions in Psychological Science. 20 (4): 256–260. doi:10.1177/0963721411417545. ISSN   0963-7214. S2CID   36313918.
  5. ↑ Byron, M. J.; Cohen, J. E.; Frattaroli, S.; Gittelsohn, J.; Jernigan, D. H. (2016-10-10). "Using the theory of normative social behavior to understand compliance with a smoke-free law in a middle-income country". Health Education Research: cyw043. doi:10.1093/her/cyw043. ISSN   0268-1153.
  6. 1 2 Schacter, Daniel L. (2012). Psychology (2nd ed.) [ publisher missing ][ page needed ]
  7. ↑ Heuser, L., Brian. (2005). Social Cohesion and Voluntary Associations. Peabody Journal of Education, 80, 16–29.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Asch, Solomon (November 1955). "Opinions and Social Pressure" (PDF). Scientific American. 193 (5): 31–35. Bibcode:1955SciAm.193e..31A. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican1155-31. JSTOR   24943779. S2CID   4172915 . Retrieved 12 November 2013.
  9. ↑ Nolan, J., Schultz, P., Cialdini, R., Goldstein, N., & Griskevicius, V. (2008). Normative social influence is underdetected. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34(7), 913-923.
  10. ↑ Schachter, Stanley (December 1951). "Deviation, Rejection, and Communication". The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology. 46 (2): 190–207. doi:10.1037/h0062326. PMID   14841000.
  11. ↑ Berns, Gregory; Jonathan Chappelow; Caroline F. Zink; Giuseppe Pagnoni; Megan E. Martin-Skurski; Jim Richards (August 2005). "Neurobiological Correlates of Social Conformity and Independence During Mental Rotation". Biological Psychiatry. 58 (3): 245–253. doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2005.04.012. PMID   15978553. S2CID   10355223.
  12. 1 2 3 Franzoi, Stephen. "Social Influence". Social Psychology. McGraw-Hill. Retrieved 20 November 2013.
  13. ↑ McLeod, Saul (2008). "Asch Experiment". SimplyPsychology. Retrieved 20 November 2013.
  14. ↑ Asch, Solomon (1956). "Studies of Independence and Conformity: I. A Minority of One Against a Unanimous Majority". Psychological Monographs: General and Applied. 70 (9): 1–70. doi:10.1037/h0093718.
  15. 1 2 McLeod, Saul. "Moscovici and Minority Influence". SimplyPsychology. Retrieved 20 November 2013.
  16. ↑ Eagly, Alice; Linda Carli (July 1981). "Sex of researchers and sex-typed communications as determinants of sex differences in influenceability: A meta-analysis of social influence studies". Psychological Bulletin. 90 (1): 1–20. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.90.1.1.
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