Lecture 6 - Group Persuasion Flashcards
What is normative influence in group persuasion?
It is the desire to be liked, leading individuals to change their public behaviour to avoid disapproval, without necessarly changing private beliefs
What is informational influence in group persuasion?
It is the desire to be right, where individuals change their minds and behaviour based on the belief that others have more accurate information
When is informational influence strongest?
When the topic is ambiguous and people feel least informed (Coleman et al., 1958), such as with complex sociopolitical issues
What emotional mechanism underlies normative influence?
The desire to avoid feeling bad or rejection (affective motivation)
What cognitive mechanism underlies informational influence?
Recognition of one’s own epistemic limits (cognitive motivation)
What did Deutsch & Gerard (1955) find about group dependence and future interaction?
Conformity increases when people depend on the group for rewards or expect future interactions
Can normative influence lead to private belief changes?
Yes, public conformity can gradually cause private change due to a desire to avoid hypocrisy (Buehler & Griffin, 1993)
How does commitment to the group affect conformity?
Greater commitment typically leads to greater pressure to conform
How does unanimity affect conformity?
A unanimous group increases conformity, but even one dissenter (even if incorrect) can significantly reduce pressure (Asch paradigm)
What did Asch find about group size and conformity?
- Conformity increases with group size but plateaus around 5-15 members, 3 being the ideal size
- Too large a group may cause suspicion
What is the role of the desire for individualisation in conformity?
Individual differences (like a strong need to be unique) can reduce conformity
What study demonstrated minority influence in group settings?
Moscovici et al. (1969): Confederates consistently said green for blue slides, and almost 1/3 of naiive participants reported seeing green
What three factors make minority influence more effective?
1) Consistency (Wood et al., 1994)
2) Early defections from the majority (Clark III, 1990)
3) Similarity to the majority (Volpato et al., 1990)
What is the dual-process hypothesis of group persuasion>
Majorities elicit conformity (System II), while minorities elicit deeper processing and conversion (System II), disrupting fluency and prompting innovation
What is the shared attention effect in media?
When we know others are watching the same context (e.g., sports or politics), it increases elaboration likelihood (Steynberg et al., 2016)
Why is it difficult to establish causality in media persuasion research?
Most studies are correlational, rely on flawed self-reports, and involve self-selection (Back, 2015; Greenwood et al., 2016)
What is selective exposure in media consumption?
Politically motivated individuals choose congruent media, making media more of a reinforcement mechanism than a cause (Iyengar, 2004)
How can media frame perceptions?
By choosing what is covered, the media signals what is important (Ciandini, 2016)
What structural biases were found in media content?
TV and film overrepresent men, crime, and certain age/race groups, leading to distorted worldviews (Gerbner et al., 1986; Smith et al., 2013)
What did Diehl et al., (2018) find about social media and political change?
Even apolitical use increases exposure to diverse opinions and disagreement, prompting political discussion and change
What intervention was found more effective than mere exposure to opposing views?
Role-playing the other side’s argument, because we trust our own reasoning (Lord et al., 1984; Vallone et al., 1985)
What is attitude inoculation (McGuire, 1961)?
Attitude inoculation is a process where small counterarguents prepare individuals to resist stronger future persuasion, like mental “vaccination”
What did Wood (1982) find about knwoledge and resistance?
High-knowledge participants produced counterarguments and resisted persuasion, while low-knowledge ones shifted their attitudes
How does meta-knowledge help resist persuasion?
Teaching critical thinking strengthens System II and improves resistance to misinformation (Van der Linden et al., 2017)
