Normative Social Influence

Normative social influence is a very powerful psychological force. While very similar in many ways to informational social influence, this phenomenon can cause individuals to act in many ways, including those that seem irrational. Normative social influence can be defined as the influence of other people that leads us to conform in order to be accepted, which results in public compliance with group beliefs and actions.

This influence is much more likely to occur in highly homogenous groups, ambiguous situations, and when the subject is highly concerned with unwanted attention, the perceptions of others, and when the need to be accepted is high (Aronson et al., 2005, p. 288).

A classic example of this type of influence was seen in a study by Solomon Asch (1951) in which subjects, in the company of varied numbers of experimental confederates were presented with several lines of varying length, and were asked to pick the one that matched a "standard line" shown on another card. The twist, however, stems from the actions of the confederates. After two trials in which they identified the correct line, each of the confederates in the experiment were told to identify the same, incorrect line. As would be expected though normative social influence, subjects consistently chose the line the confederates chose despite the correct response being very clear.

The subjects did not have any prior affiliation with the confederates, yet they still placed their faith in strangers' answers, rather than their own. The distinction between normative social influence and informational social influence in this instance lies in the sources of information available to the subjects. In this experiment, while the subjects have access to a source of information (direct observation) that has been reliable and accurate for a lifetime, they choose to act against that information in order to avoid negative social perception.

Normative social influence is often referred to as peer pressure, however this term significantly underestimates the power of this phenomena. In fact normative social influence has been blamed for tragedies like Jonestown, and Heaven's Gate, and other cult activity.

Normative social influence has been used to explain a variety of behaviors, thought processes, and attitudes including juvenile delinquency (Haynie & Osgood, 2005), patterns of food intake and eating disorders (Holman et al., 2005), jury decisions (Prager, 1996), sexual habits among women (Debbobeleer et al., 2005), and political views (Price et al., 2006).

Works Cited

Aronson, E., Wilson, T.D., & Akert, R.M. (2005). Social Psychology. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education Company.

Asch, S. (1951). Effects of group pressure upon the modification and distortion of judgment. In. Guetzkow (Ed.), Groups, leadership, and men. (pp. 76-92). Pittsburgh, PA: Carnegie Press.

Debbobeleer, N., Morissette, P., & Rojas-Viger, C. (2005). Social Network Normative Influence and Sexual Risk-Taking Among Women Seeking a New Partner. Women & Health, 41(3).

Haynie, D.L. & Osgood, D.W. (2005). Reconsidering peers and delinquency: How do peers matter? Social Forces, 84(2).

Holman, C.P., Herman, P.C., & Polivy, J. (2005). Normative influences on food intake. Phsyiology & Behavior, 86(5).

Prager, I.R. (1996). Age differences and conformity in juror decision-making. Dissertation abstracts international, 12.

Price, V., Nir. L., & Cappella, J.N. (2006). Normative and informational influences in online political discussions. Communication Theory, 16(1).