Topic:
Conformity
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new link as of January 1, 2012
"The significance of social structure" - a good essay on the role structure plays in our lives [added 10/16/10]
The power of small increments - good blog entry from Sam Sommers on how we often overlook the power of incremental change in behaviors that gradually increase over time such as the errors in politicians' resumes [added 10/16/10]
Fewer calories consumed after calorie information posted in restaurants - [added 2/8/10]
Hubris Syndrome - Interesting article in which the authors "argue that many of our elected leaders have shown signs of 'Hubris Syndrome' - a form of acquired personality disorder....The key concept, they write, is that hubris syndrome is a disorder of the possession of power, particularly power which has been associated with overwhelming success, held for a period of years and with minimal constraint on the leader." Is this really a personality type or the power of the situation? [added 7/17/09]
"Individual differences in susceptibility to mindlessness" - If someone tried to jump in line at the copier within an inane excuse would you still give in? What if you were high in need for cognition? High in self-monitoring? [added 4/18/09]
Peer pressure in music preference - Here's an interesting article in which "sociologist Matthew Salganik and his colleagues at Columbia University set out to test the theory that music listeners simply like the music they know other people enjoy." [added 7/6/06]
Cyberball! - Kipling Williams offers downloads of Cyberball, "a virtual ball-toss game that can be used for research on ostracism, social exclusion, or rejection." Could also be used for lab activities. [added 1/8/06]
"Do defaults save lives?" - very interesting article analyzing opt-in and opt-out strategies in Europe to promote organ donation -- a good, short read for students [added 6/15/04]
"Coffin Nails: The Tobacco Controvery in the 19th Century" - This site draws on text, cartoons and ads from Harper's Weekly, 1857-1912, to describe the health concerns already present about tobacco and responses to it. [added 7/16/03]
Culture Change - anthropological perspective on the processes and forces of change
Mimicry and Contagion
Mass hysteria and chemical leaks - "Mass hysteria and not leaked chemicals was the likely cause of the symptoms experienced by those exposed in 16 per cent of hundreds of chemical leaks recorded in England and Wales between January 2007 and April 2008." [added 10/16/10]
Coordinated behavior among humans and other animals - interesting blog entry describing why animals evolved the ability to coordinate novel behaviors, such as the fascinating video included of a flock of starlings avoiding a predator [added 3/8/10]
"Is the tipping point toast?" - Here's an interesting article describing some research that calls into question the marketing ploy of targeting a few influential consumers to start a trend. [added 1/19/10]
"Contagion and differentiation in unethical behavior" - "We're influenced by our chances of getting caught, by how much attention we're paying to the ethical issues involved, and whether or not people like us are doing it. And we reserve special disdain for our rivals, taking care not to behave in the unethical ways they do." [added 1/19/10]
The power of mimicry - [added 4/18/09]
"Conversational partners coordinate eye movements" - interesting study looking at how even separated conversants coordinate eye gaze [added 10/19/07]
The chameleon effect in 3-D virtual reality - Very interesting study in which subjects wearing a virtual reality headset viewed a character who was programmed to mimic the subjects' movements. What did they find? You can also read the recently published research article. [added 9/22/05]
Norms and Normative Influence
"New environments and new norms" - This blog entry can get students to think about new physical environments they encounter, and how they navigate the norms and expected behaviors of them. [added 6/12/11]
When is peer rejection acceptable in children? [added 12/22/10]
Changing social norms - Excellent article using the change in foot-binding custom in China to discuss how norms can be changed within a society -- this article would combine well with the one below on reducing Islamophobia to discuss how social change can occur. [added 12/22/10]
"Driving, social norms, and social structure" - good blog entry which uses the norms of driving as an analogy for the norms and structure of society [added 12/22/10]
Asch's line study without confederates - This blog entry describes a clever way to recreate Asch's study without the need for confederates. [added 12/22/10]Cell phone etiquette - This list of 15 rules provides a nice example for a discussion of how norms are formed, transmitted, changed, etc. [added 7/14/10]
Online vigilantes - Interesting story from China in which a network of online users attempt to punish individuals who violate social norms. For example, in one case, "Internet users from all over China worked together to collect the personal data of a woman who posted a video on the internet of her stomping a kitten to death under her spiked heels. After discovering her location, the vast network of users encouraged everyone who came in contact to her to assist in driving her out-of-town, ruining her business, and destroying her life." [added 7/14/10]
Interesting take on deviance - If a tree falls in a forest and no one is there to hear it... Or, if someone violates a social norm but no one objects, is it deviance? [added 7/14/10]
"Rethinking nudity and deviance" - [added 7/14/10]
"Public behavior in private spaces" - For example, how do mall rules affect behavior? [added 3/8/10]
Using shame as peer pressure - Interesting example in India where open defecation near water supplies creates a health risk. Attempts to provide financial incentives to build indoor plumbing in households had not been that successful. A study was developed that evaluated the effects of using shaming in communities to increase latrine construction. Shaming appeared to work, as latrine construction in 20 randomly selected communities increased significantly compared to 20 control villages. Similar results were found when I potty-trained my kids. [added 1/19/10]
How much do our social networks shape our behavior? - More contagion research -- Interesting New York Times article reviewing research on the contagious nature of behavior within social networks [added 1/19/10]
Hug is the new handshake - Interesting New York Times article describes an apparent trend in which teenagers regular hug each other as greetings, including between males. [added 7/17/09]
A cartoon - [added 4/18/09]
Rumspringa - What? Yeah, I had never heard of this Amish tradition during which teenagers "get to experience non-Amish life so they can decide whether they want to commit to their parents' culture and traditions.... during the time of Rumspringa, the youth are free to wear modern clothes, use technology, and may experiment with drink, drugs and sex - on the basis that the Amish want their youth to freely enter their tradition having had the opportunity to experience the alternative." You are encouraged to be a non-conformist so you can see if you want to conform or not, and make a commitment to that conformity. [added 4/18/09]Do people conform more to social norms in a more orderly/neat setting? - [added 4/18/09]
The use of advertising in China - "A new study in the Journal of Consumer Research looks at the role advertising has played in China's transformation. Authors Xin Zhao (University of Hawaii at Manoa) and Russell W. Belk (York University, Toronto) analyzed advertisements in the Chinese media for clues on how sociological and ideological change has taken place in the People's Republic. Advertising is the major propaganda vehicle for consumerism, and an excellent arena to explore China's changing values, explain the authors: 'We examine how advertising appropriates a dominant anti-consumerist political ideology to promote consumption within China's social and political transition.'" [added 11/21/08]
Using social control to "curb incivilities" - Which makes you more angry: Seeing someone failing to pick up his dog's poop, or seeing someone littering? This blog entry describes some research on efforts to reduce such incivilities. [added 8/10/08]
Teenagers: Conforming to nonconformity - amusing article from The Onion [added 6/7/08]
Can threat of embarrassment change unwanted behavior? - This question is explored in this sociology blog on "informal social sanctions, prostitution, and Johntv.com." [added 5/10/08]
Using social norms approach to reduce high-risk behaviors - The National Social Norms Institute at the University of Virginia conducts "ongoing research into the effectiveness of social norms methodology to combat high-risk drinking among students; the purpose of the institute is to research, evaluate, and disseminate information on the social norms methodology to the field." A variety of resources and reports are available. [added 4/13/08]
When is it acceptable to lie? - description of a study that examines cultural and other factors that can affect the answer to this question [added 12/9/07]
The Hippie society - Okay, raise your mouse, how many of you were once hippies? Are still hippies? This site provides a lot of info about hippie life back in the mid to late 60s. It describes "hippie life" in Canada and the U.S. Which makes me wonder -- were there "hippies" in other countries? Was there a hippie movement in Madagascar? Nepal? Texas? [added 11/18/07]
Use of social norms - Description of interesting research that examined why some marketing campaigns to increase socially appropriate behavior succeed and why some fail. [added 8/05/07]
Elevator rules! - Finally, all the rules of proper elevator behavior in one place! Well, maybe not all the rules, but enough to keep you and your students talking about how these rules/norms formed, how they have changed, what happens if we violate them, etc. I have told my students in the past that my mom didn't sit me down one day and say, "Jon, here are the rules of good elevator behavior." At least, I don't remember that. Instead, as with most norms, I gradually induced the rules through experience. Want to try a norm violation activity? Here's a set of behaviors to use. Lots more I'm sure you can think of to do with this site. [added 2/22/06]
Fads across the decades - Fun site that describes the most popular U.S. fads from the 1920s, 30s, 40s, ... up to the 90s. Good discussion starters or source for comparison or analysis. Or, just relive your past. [added 11/20/03]
Obedience/Authority
Milgram's Obedience Studies
Revisiting Milgram's obedience study - Jerry Berger, who conducted the recent replication of Milgram's famous obedience study, is now suggesting that perhaps many of the participants in Milgram's and his own study were less motivated by obedience to authority and more motivated by a desire for "acting out of character in certain circumstances." Read about the evidence he has uncovered. [added 6/12/11]
The evolution of Milgram's obedience studies - an interesting description of some of Milgram's earlier thinking about how to test his ideas [added 10/16/10]
More background on Milgram's obedience studies - [added 7/14/10]
Milgram obedience studies turned into "game show" - You may have heard about this. A documentary of sorts for French television created a mock game show, The Game of Death, "with a roaring crowd and a glamorous and well-known hostess urging the players on. But the contestants did not know they were taking part in an experiment to find out whether television could push them to outrageous lengths, and which has prompted comparisons with the atrocities of Nazi Germany....The game? Posing questions to another ''player'' and punishing him with up to 460 volts of electricity when he gets them wrong - even until his cries of ''Let me go!'' fall silent and he appears to have died. Not knowing that the screaming victim is really an actor, the apparently reluctant contestants yield to the orders of the presenter and chants of ''Punishment!'' from a studio audience who also believed the game was real." Apparently, 81% of the contestants went all the way to 460 volts, more than the 60%+ in Milgram's studies. Here is a second story about the show which includes a little video. [added 7/14/10]
Resisting Milgram's "experiment" - interesting first person account of someone who did not go all the way as one of the first subjects in Milgram's obedience study [added 6/7/08]
Re-creation of Milgram's obedience studies - I imagine many of you watched ABC's Dateline show in which they re-created Milgram's classic study. I thought Dateline did a good job of capturing and explaining it. At the first link above, you can view a 5:50 clip that replays parts of the show. Very useful for class. One of the most disturbing pieces within the program was when it provided a real-life episode of employees at a fast-food restaurant following the commands of a stranger on the phone pretending to be a police officer. Very disturbing what followed. As it turns out, the individual allegedly responsible for that phone call and what followed apparently had done this more than 60 times across the country. You can read about this astonishing example of the power of an authority here. And here is another report about it. [added 7/06/07]
Ethical concerns of the re-creation - Jerry Burger, who conducted the re-creation of Milgram's studies, describes the steps he went through to insure an ethical yet faithful replication. [added 12/23/07]
Stanley Milgram - a site devoted to providing "accurate information about the life and work of one of the most outstanding social scientists of our time" - site created and maintained by Thomas Blass [added 2/13/03]The Milgram Obedience Song - And now for something completely different... well... different may not be the right word. I had fun poking around Dan Wegner's website. A lot of good stuff there. But I never expected to find this... [added 11/20/03]
Zimbardo's Prison Study
"New BBC prison study website goes live" - "The British social psychologists, professors Alex Haslam and Steve Reicher, have put together a wonderful, resource-packed website that documents the science and issues behind their BBC Prison Study conducted and broadcast in 2001/2002." [added 4/18/09]
Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal [added 6/15/04]
Effect of prison on prison guards - good summary of book (Newjack) by journalist Ted Conover about his undercover experience as a guard in a prison [added 3/23/04]
A British variation of the Stanford prison experiment - an attempt to create a prison simulation for a television show [added 7/21/03]
The Holocaust
The Holocaust - lots of resources and links related to the Holocaust [added 11/7/02]
"Voices of the Holocaust" - a new project from The British Library that includes audio and written recordings from survivors who live in Great Britain [added 3/6/02]
Holocaust teaching guide - hundreds of images, videos and other resources
Holocaust links - extensive set of links to Holocaust memorials, museums and other resources
Schindler's List Teaching Guide - from the Southern Institute for Education and Research at Tulane University
"Deathly Silence: Everyday People in the Holocaust" - instructional materials from the Southern Institute for Education and Research at Tulane University
Cults
The Cult News Network - This website provides links to current news stories about a variety of cults. [added 10/19/07]
Cult Controversies - resources from the Washington Post describing various controversial cults since the 1950s [added 12/1/06]
F.A.C.T.Net.org - F.A.C.T.Net (Fight Against Coercive Tactics Network) "focuses on protecting freedom of mind from harms caused by all forms of mind control and unethical influence" - lots of information and resources on cults, scientology and attempts at mind control [added 12/06/02]
Cult group controversies - extensive resources on "brainwashing" and other aspects of cults - from the Religious Movements Page [added 3/6/02]
Cults and sects - variety of resources - from About.com guide on alternative religions [added 3/6/02]
"A social psychological critique of "brainwashing" claims about recruitment to new religions" - article by James T. Richardson - from J. Hadden and D. Bromley, eds. (1993), The Handbook of Cults and Sects in America. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, Inc., pp. 75-97. [added 3/6/02]
Cults and psychological manipulation -- site from American Family Foundation, "a nonprofit, tax-exempt research center and educational organization founded in 1979. AFF's mission is to study psychological manipulation and cultic groups, to educate the public and professionals, and to assist those who have been adversely affected by a cult-related experience."
Transcendental Meditation - a critical look from trancenet.org
The Jonestown Massacre
Jonestown Massacre Resources [added 6/3/09]
"Jonestown" - detailed account in chapters from Court TV's Crime Library [added 3/15/05]
Multiple resources on the massacre - This site from NPR provides audio of stories about the event, an interview with a survivor, images of the massacre, review of the events and more. [added 3/19/04]
Multiple resources on the massacre from the Department of Religious Studies at San Diego State University - The Department has created a website entitled, “Alternative Considerations of Jonestown and Peoples Temple," which provides a 25th anniversary review, personal reflections, tape transcripts and more. [added 3/19/04]
Resources for the Teaching of Social Psychology is a part of the CROW Project, Course Resources on the Web. CROW was initially sponsored by the Associated Colleges of Illinois and generously supported by UPS. This site was created by Jon Mueller, Professor of Psychology at North Central College, Naperville, IL. Send comments to Jon.
