Informative social influence, how we get carried away by others

Informative social influence is a process through which, Faced with an ambiguous situation, a person gets carried away by what he observes in others who are in the same situation and takes it as a reference To issue your answers.

This has been a subject quite studied by social psychology, a branch that has been in charge of leaving in evidence how coexistence in groups leads people to develop patterns, norms, beliefs or behaviors and adapt to them under the pressure of the Group majority.

Particularly, greater suggestibility has been demonstrated in those subjects who are facing people with authority.

Content

• Informative social influence
• Informative social influence: a phenomenon previously studied
• Culture and social norms
• Conformism
  • Bibliography

Informative social influence

Informative social influence is also known as social evidence, and It is a psychological phenomenon in which people assume that the action of other subjects are the reflection of proper behavior In a specific situation.

This effect occurs more strongly in those social situations that are ambiguous and people are not able to determine what the most appropriate behavior should be, so they end up being conducted by the idea that the people of the environment, at that time, They have more information regarding the situation.

These effects of informative social influence can be observed in the trends of groups that are large and the person seeks to adapt to a correct or incorrect option. Thus, He has also received the name of Gregario behavior.

Although the social demonstration could reflect a rational reason to consider the information that others possess, some analysis shows that this can lead to people quickly resort to a single response, even when the decisions of large groups are based on a small portion of information.

To informative social influence It is also considered as a type of conformity, Well, when a subject is in a situation in which he does not feel safe about what his correct behavior should be, then observe what other people do to adapt. That is, a conformity arises because it is believed that the interpretation of the situation by the others has more accuracy than their own and therefore, the answer will be more appropriate. In this it has a lot to do with the norm of social influence that leads to a person adjusting to like or being accepted by others.

Informative social influence: a phenomenon previously studied

More than seventy years ago, one of the most prominent researchers in social psychology, Solomon Asch, explained that a subject could issue a different response to what would issue for himself if he was not under the influence of the social environment and in favor of the majority opinion, even if it were a case in which the error of the majority was evident for the person.

That is People are constantly subject to the social pressure of the majority groups And this affects the form of individual processing, which is affected by the thought of the majority, even when it is very wrong or absurd.

This occurs mostly when the situation is complex, ambiguous, novel or without clear norms, that the individual feels a predisposition to accept the behavior of the majority, since his personal judgment is considered incompetent by himself by himself.

Culture and social norms

From the above it follows that attitudes that are shared socially and generate from social interaction have a kind of life of their own. That is, they are transmitted from one generation to the other, they are internalized, because, although the group is not present, the subject has already been part of himself, and they remain, even when the composition of the collective change.

So, Culture exists as a dynamic process with its own life that is preserved, although the subjects that generated it are replaced by others.

However, it should be noted that subjects usually settle for the majority pressure or obey orders that come from people with high status.

But many times, minorities who have no power or status also manage As Páez and Campos point out in their study on culture and social influence: conformism and innovation.

Conformism

So that, Conformism would be the change of beliefs and behaviors due to the pressure exerted by a group, which makes the previous provisions of a individual be modified in the direction of the norm established by the collective.

There have been many studies that have evidenced that before a major.

Another detail to consider when conformism is addressed is the presence of women in the group, then, It has been suggested that a greater effect of social influence is observed in women on issues in which they had no experience, so there would be a tendency for women to be more conformist, due to greater vulnerability to social influence.

This vulnerability would be given by less status and power, then, those who have more status are more reluctant to be influenced; In addition, in women there would be less independence and uniqueness. On the other hand, men interpret non -conformity as a sign of independence.

And of course, the explanation that makes more strength is that of normative pressure, that is, People continue the opinion of the majority to be accepted by the social group and avoid being rejected.

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Bibliography

• Acevedo, g. M., Álvarez, a. R., & González, V. G. R. Social conformism.
• Coos Salgado, L. L., Mora Acevedo, G., Ramírez González, V. G., & Reyes Alvarez, D. TO. (2019). Social conformism.
• Manzano, m. C., & Rovira, D. P. (2004). Culture and social influence: conformism and innovation. In Social Psychology, Culture and Education (pp. 693-718). Pearson Education.
• Moscovici, s. (nineteen ninety six). Psychology of the active minorities. Morata editions.