Normative Social Influence
- Normative Social Influence
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." [Aronson, E., Wilson, T.D., & Akert, A.M. (2005). Social Psychology (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.] 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 [Latane, B. (1981). The psychology of social impact. American Psychologist, 36, 343-365.] 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.
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.
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.
See also
*Conformity
*Asch conformity experiments
*Informational Social Influence
*Social Psychology
*Obedience
References
Wikimedia Foundation.
2010.
Look at other dictionaries:
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… … Wikipedia
Social influence — occurs when an individual s thoughts, feelings or actions are affected by other people. Social influence takes many forms and can be seen in conformity, socialization, peer pressure, obedience, leadership, persuasion, sales, and marketing. In… … Wikipedia
Informational Social Influence — In social psychology, informational social influence is a type of conformity. When a person is in a situation where s/he is unsure of the correct way to behave, s/he will often look to others for cues concerning the correct behavior. When we… … Wikipedia
Social psychology (psychology) — Social psychology is the scientific study of how people s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others (Allport, 1985). By this definition, scientific refers to the empirical method of… … Wikipedia
Social impact theory — predicts that as strength and immediacy increase within a group, conformity will also increase. The more important a group is and the more one is in its presence, the more likely it is for one to conform to the group s normative pressures. As the … Wikipedia
Social Norms Approach — The social norms approach is an environmental strategy gaining ground in health campaigns Perkins, H. W. (2003). The Social Norms Approach to Preventing School and College Age Substance Abuse: A Handbook for Educators, Counselors, and Clinicians … Wikipedia
Minority influence — Minority influence, a form of social influence, takes place when a minority, like an individual, influences a majority to accept the minority s beliefs or behaviour. There are two types of social influence: majority influence (conformity) and… … Wikipedia
Social rule system theory — is an attempt to formally approach different kinds of social rule systems in a unified manner. Social rules systems include institutions such as norms, laws, regulations, taboos, customs, and a variety of related concepts and are important in the … Wikipedia
Social theory — Social analysis redirects here. For the journal, see Social Analysis (journal). Sociology … Wikipedia
Influence Sociale — L influence sociale ou la pression sociale est l influence exercée par un groupe sur chacun de ses membres aboutissant à lui imposer ses normes dominantes en matière d attitude et de comportement. Cette influence entraine la modification des… … Wikipédia en Français
