Normative Social Influence

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Normative social influence is one form of conformity. It is "the influence of other people that leads us to conform in order to be liked and accepted by them."[1] This often leads to public compliance - but not necessarily private acceptance - of the group's social norms. When people tend to conform to normative social influence is explained in Bibb Latané's social impact theory. Social impact theory[2] states that the more important the group is, the closer the physical distance is between the group and oneself, and the number of people in the group all affect the likelihood that one will conform to the group's social norms.

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[edit] Research

Solomon Asch conducted his classic conformity experiments in an attempt to discover if people would still conform when the right answer was obvious. Using confederates, he created the illusion that an entire group of participants believed something that was obviously false. When in this situation, participants conformed about a third of the time on trials where the confederates gave obviously false answers. When asked to make the judgements in private, participants gave the right answer more than 98% of the time. Obviously, normative social influence played a role in the participants' decision making.

[edit] Everyday Life

Normative social influence is found in our everyday lives, from fashion trends to workplace habits. One of the most frequent forms of normative social influence involves conforming to cultural definitions of the "ideal body type." In Western culture, particularly American fashion, attractive women are expected to be extremely thin. This explains women's attempts to conform by extreme dieting, creating eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia. Males are also subject to this phenomenon. Studies have shown that the "ideal body" for males has slowly changed over the years, becoming more muscular. This has created an epidemic of steroid and ephedrine use to achieve a more muscular physique.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Aronson, E., Wilson, T.D., & Akert, A.M. (2005). Social Psychology (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
  2. ^ Latane, B. (1981). The psychology of social impact. American Psychologist, 36, 343-365.