1. Social Influences on Behavior
Mr. Koch
AP Psychology
Forest Lake High School

2. 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)

3. 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

4. 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

5. “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

6. 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”

7. 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

9. 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

10. Solomon Asch’s Conformity 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

11. 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

12. 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

14. Asch Conformity Study