Psychology 2070A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Social Proof, Normative Social Influence, Social Influence

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 2070A/B
• Professor: Taylor Kohut

Document Summary

Isi people are most likely to conform in: ambiguous or confusing situations, crisis situations (often) Important bc they make people do weird things: less likely to pay attention, tend to rely on heuristic cues (i. e. what are other people doing, situations where other people are (perceived as) experts; not necessary. Jeer pressure was expected to induce conformity to othe(cid:396)s" opinions; concern about failing or standing out; and conventional, uncreative thinking. In both experiments, participants observed videotapes containing either other-ridiculing humor, self-ridiculing humor, or nonridiculing or no humor. Participants then completed tasks that assessed conformity, fear of failure, and creativity. Results of both experiments showed that participants who viewed ridicule of others were more conforming and more afraid of failing than were those who viewed self-ridicule or no ridicule. Creativity was not influenced by the humor (cid:373)a(cid:374)ipulatio(cid:374). (cid:863) Subjects are instructed to judge which comparison line is of equal length as standard line.