ior and opinions of one or more other people. Velma is an eighteen-year-old
high-school graduate. She’s thinking of taking a full-time clerical job with a local
insurance broker. Alternatively, she’s thinking of going full-time to the local com-
munity college while working part time. Both options seem equally attractive to
her. The situation is ambiguous because she can easily see her near-future activity
in two ways. Velma’s best friend, Wanda, tells Velma all of the reasons why she
thinks it’s a good idea to go to a community college instead of taking on a regu-
lar job. The social influence exerted by Wanda resolves Velma’s doubts, and she
decides to go to the community college.
The social psychologist Muzafer Sherif did a series of experiments on social
influence over sixty years ago. In a typical experiment, Maxwell, a subject, is
brought alone into a dark room. There is a pinpoint of light. It is stationary. How-
ever, with no frame of reference, it appears to be moving. This is called the auto-
kinetic effect,and it is due to slight involuntary movements of the eyeballs. The
movements are random. The subject is allowed to believe that the perceived
movement is in fact objective, actual movement, though he is unable to identify
any particular pattern of motion.
Two additional people are brought into the room. They seem to be subjects,
but they are not; they are working with the researcher. They engage Maxwell in
discussion. The discussion leads the two new “subjects” to say, “The light is mov-
ing in a clockwise circle.” This is not their perception, it’s just what they have
already agreed to say. Soon Maxwell perceives the light to be moving in a clock-
wise circle.
When Maxwell is interviewed later, he seems to be convinced that he actually
saw the light moving clockwise. It appears that social influence affected his actual
perception. Again, it is the ambiguity of a situation that makes social influence
particularly powerful.(a) The perceived of a situation makes social influence more effective.(b) A stationary pinpoint of light in a dark room, without a frame of reference, appears to
be moving. This is called the effect.
Answers: (a) ambiguity; (b) autokinetic.
Second, obedience,a tendency to conform to the requests of an authority
figure, plays a role in conformity. If a nurse asks you to undress for a medical
examination, you usually do. If a teacher asks you to sit in a particular place, you
probably will. If a judge pounds a gavel and requests order, the courtroom gener-
ally quiets down.
A series of important experiments on obedience was reported by the psy-
chologist Stanley Milgram in his book Obedience to Authority.Here is a descrip-
tion of a typical experiment. Sylvia believes that she is an assistant to a researchSocial Psychology: Interacting with Other People 255