Introduction
\nPeer influences the behavior of individuals, often promoting conformity.\u00a0 The tendency to match one\u2019s behavior to that of peers is called conformity.\u00a0 Some amount of peer conformity provides a secure feeling of belonging; peer pressure, however, can be considerable and sometimes unpleasant.\u00a0 Even intelligent and good teens can foster conformity, as shown by the story of Okiki.\u00a0 Her story is one of the reasons why the researcher believed that further study is needed in this field.
\nShe\u2019s a thirteen-year-old honors student at a Lorain, Ohio, middle school. She sat in class, her arms and legs shaking nervously. In her book bag she had a twelve-inch kitchen knife.\u00a0 Her plan was to wait for the bell to ring and then rush to the front of the classroom and, with the help of another student, stab her teacher to death.\u00a0 Why? To settle a grudge against the teacher and to show her classmates (at least a dozen of whom placed bets as to whether or not she would \u201cchicken out\u201d) that she was worthy of their respect.\u00a0 Hearing about the plot, an Helpant principal broke up the plan only minutes before it was to be carried out (Gregory, 1993).<\/p>\n
The fact that young teens are anxious about fitting in surprise no one, although many people might be amazed at the lengths some will go to gain acceptance.\u00a0\u00a0 Psychologists have confirmed the power of peer influence to shape human behavior and found that it remains strong in adulthood as well as in adolescence.\u00a0 Hence further study regarding this problem is needed.
\nHypothesis
\nHence the hypothesis being tested in this study is that peer influences affect perceptual judgments.\u00a0 Specifically, the study seeks to answer the following questions:
\n1. Could anything persuade a person to choose others` choice other than what the
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 person have selected is the correct choice?
\n2. Do opinions of peers have an extremely powerful influence on an
\n\u00a0\u00a0 individual?
\nDescription
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The research method to be used in this study would be the controlled experiment research design.\u00a0 The controlled experiment allows the researcher to manipulate the independent variables.\u00a0 Hence, there will be an experimental group, which will experience a change in the independent variable (the \u201ctreatment\u201d), and a control group, which will not experience the treatment but whose behavior will be compared with that of the experimental group. It is important to take note that the control group should be similar to the experimental group in every other way.
\nThe participants will be college students recruited by the researcher from different schools.\u00a0 For validity and reliability purposes of the research method to be used, the researcher would like to use the classic experiment by Solomon Asch (1952).
\nHence, I will form groups of six to eight people, allegedly to study visual perception.\u00a0 In this technique, confederates will be used, all of whom will state an obviously incorrect judgment prior to the turn of the individual whose behavior will be investigated.
\nHence, the researcher will arrange with all but one member of the group to create a situation in which the remaining subject would be pressured to accept conclusions that were quite unreasonable.\u00a0 The researcher will ask each group members, one at a time, to match a \u201cstandard\u201d line on \u201cCard 1,\u201d to one of three lines on \u201cCard.\u201d Anyone with normal vision could see that the line marked \u201cA\u201d on \u201cCard 2\u201d was the correct choice.\u00a0 Initially, everyone is expected to give correct answers.\u00a0 Then, the researcher\u2019s secret accomplices will began responding incorrectly, making the na\u00efve subject hopefully bewildered and uncomfortable.
\nSo, the control participants\/group would consist of subjects who will look at the lines in a room where they will be seated together but will be allowed to make their judgments independently.\u00a0 In this group the subjects are expected to invariably match the correct lines. But in the experimental group a different result is expected as a result of the introduction of an independent variable: peer influence.
\nDiscussion
\nSo what will happen?\u00a0 The researcher would expect that more than one-third of the subjects that will be place in this awkward situation chose to conform to the others by answering incorrectly or they went along with the incorrect group judgment.\u00a0\u00a0 This study would suggest that many of us are apparently willing to compromise our own judgment to avoid the discomfort of being different from others, even from people we do not know.\u00a0Read also\u00a0research proposal on Forensic Accounting
\nThe independent variable in this study will be peer influence.\u00a0 The researcher will also vary the degree of peer influence to be experienced by the subject.\u00a0 The independent variable (peer influence) thus produced more \u201cerrors,\u201d or choices (dependent variable) of the wrong line (same as Asch, 1966).
\nAnalysis
\n\u00a0In this experiment, the subject will usually dupe and may feel embarrass.\u00a0 Since this is a psychological research, it deals with the personal lives and inner thoughts of real human beings.\u00a0 Although this research may seem relatively innocent, there would be many times when the questions to be ask or the behaviors to be witness may be embarrassing or even more damaging.\u00a0\u00a0 More or less, the study would have good internal validity as it is expected to clearly measure what it intends to measure.\u00a0 Moreover, external events and contamination may cause causal conclusions of the study to be invalid.\u00a0 For example, when the experimental group will be interviewed, something might happen which is unrelated to the result or something in their surrounding might influence the subjects in answering the questions and thus might affect the result of the survey.\u00a0 \u00a0On the other hand, external validity will not be measured in the study.
\nConclusion
\nIn conclusion, the expected result in this research is not related to
\nthe effects of an independent variable.\u00a0 This is the so called foot-in-the-door technique (Dillard, 2001).\u00a0 This technique can produce extraordinary degrees of compliance.\u00a0 Here, the experimental group will conform to the confederates not by peer influence but by voluntarily conforming to the incorrect response.\u00a0 This is best explained by self-perception theory, which assumes that we infer our attitudes from observing our own behavior, and provides an answer.\u00a0 Here, if someone freely complies with a small, worthwhile request, the person will somehow feel as someone who has positive attitude toward worthwhile requests.\u00a0 As one wish to be consistent with his self-perception, he may be more likely to comply with other requests. But supporters of this alternative explanation have been mixed (Dillard, 2001).
\nAs a suggestion, one variations of this experiment would be that the social impact of the peer influence varies as a function of its size, the degree of unanimity in the group, and the degree to which one\u2019s nonconforming behavior can be hidden from scrutiny.\u00a0 People would evaluate their opinions and behavior against the standards of a reference group.\u00a0 If they find major differences, they feel pressure to conform \u2013 or to change reference groups.
\nWorks Cited
\nAsch, S. E. Effects of group pressure upon the modification and distortion of judgments.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In D. Cartwright and A. Zander (Eds.), Group dynamics: Research and theory.1966.
\nDillard, J.P. The current status of research on sequential-request compliance techniques.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.2001.
\nGregory, R.L. The Oxford companion to the mind.\u00a0 New York: Oxford University Press.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 1993.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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