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Click here to go to the Chapter 6 outline.

Notes & Links for the chapter.

       Ψ  Conformity is the changing of one's behavior or belief as the result of group pressure. Conformity comes in two forms:

       •  Compliance is outwardly going along with the group while inwardly disagreeing; a subset of compliance is obedience (compliance with a direct command).

       •  Acceptance is believing as well as acting in accord with social pressure.

       Ψ  Sherif's studies of Norm formation: People looked at stationary light & then formed a group consensus as to how far the light moved. Illustrated power of suggestibility. Later showed a suggestion could continue through five or more generations of participants.

Click here to go to a source document for Sherif's experiment.

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Social Psychology   Robert C. Gates

"There is no inherent misdirection in holding unorthodox views. Indeed, the autonomous individual, free from compulsive conformance and unquestioned assumptions, is likely to be unorthodox... They stimulate the climate of controversy without which political democracy becomes an empty formalism." - Snell Putney