Examples of informational social influence

Groupthink

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In social psychology, group polarization refers to the tendency of a group to make decisions that are more extreme than the initial inclination of its members. These more extreme decisions are toward greater risk if the initial tendencies of individuals are risky and toward greater caution if the initial tendencies of individuals in the group are cautious. [1] The phenomenon also holds that a group's attitude toward a situation may change in the sense that individuals' initial attitudes may strengthen and intensify after group discussion, a phenomenon known as attitude polarization. [2]

Research has suggested that well-established groups suffer less from polarization, as do groups that discuss problems they know well. However, in situations where groups are new or tasks are new, group polarization may have a more profound influence on decision making. [7]

Groupthink example

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Group thinking social psychology

Social norms, broadly speaking, are defined as the beliefs shared by the members of a group about what are the appropriate, expected and desirable behaviors, opinions or attitudes for a given group. Therefore, norms are shared frameworks about reality, about how to interpret it and how to behave in it. This type of information of social origin is of vital importance for the adaptation of the individual to the environment and for his survival. Thus, the information we receive from others provides us with knowledge on how to interpret any event and what is the most adaptive action, especially in ambiguous situations.

Psychologists call the process by which we observe what other people do in order to take it as a reference for our own behavior "informational influence". We all know some examples of this type of influence because we have suffered them without realizing it. For example, when we go to a religious act on the occasion of a baptism, communion or wedding and not knowing exactly the liturgy, we look at others to know when to stand up and when to sit down. Or when we come across a group of people who are all looking up, we instinctively raise our eyes there too. We are also faced with the informative influence when we see a group of people running in a stampede and we imitate them to run away with them without knowing very well why. In short, we imitate others when we do not know something or when we are in ambiguous situations because they are the best reference to know what to do; it is undoubtedly the most adaptive thing to do. In many cases we are faced with a type of instinctive, uncontrollable behavior, a fixed pattern of action from which we cannot escape. When a group of sparrows flies away, none of them stays on the ground and if they do, it may be the one that eats the cat, there is no choice, they all fly.

Group polarization psychology

Although mimicry represents the more subtle side, conformity also occurs in a more active and reflexive sense, for example, when we actively look to the opinions of our friends to determine appropriate behavior, when a car salesman attempts to make a sale, or even when a powerful dictator uses physical aggression to force the people of his country to engage in the behaviors he desires. In these cases, the influence is obvious. We know we are being influenced and can try, sometimes successfully and sometimes less so, to counteract the pressure.

Influence sometimes occurs because we believe that other people have valid knowledge about an opinion or topic, and we use that information to help us make good decisions. When we wear our winter coat to school because the weatherman says it's going to be cold, this is because we think the weatherman has some good information we can use. Informational conformity is the change in opinions or behavior that occurs when we conform to people we believe have accurate information. We base our beliefs on those presented to us by reporters, scientists, doctors, and lawyers because we believe they have more expertise in certain fields than we do. But we also use our friends and colleagues for information; when we choose a party dress based on our friends' advice about what looks good on us, we are using informational conformity; we believe our friends have good judgment about the things that matter to us.