Conformity In Pain Report

Numerous studies have been conducted on the concept of conformity. Recognized studies of conformity include those like the Asch line-judgment studies, the Stanford Prison Experiment, etc. Hoping to advance in studies of conformity, scientists Kim & Hommel (2015) and Koban & Wager (2016) recently conducted experiments that demonstrate how the opinions and behaviors of others cause a change in the original opinion of an individual, also known as conformity. Another way to describe conformity is the changing of one’s beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors due to the influence of others (Aaronson et al., 2013). It is important to study and understand the concept of conformity so that an individual can use critical thinking in a given situation rather
According to Koban & Wager (2016), prior to their experiment it was unknown whether social conformity lead to changes in the internal affective processes that cause physiological responses. In other words, one may choose to do something potentially painful because they were influenced by the actions of others. Nonetheless, Koban & Wager (2015) are measuring if the influence by the actions of others to do something potentially painful actually causes less painful sensation. They did not seem to have a clearly stated hypothesis but indicated that they were suspecting significant correlations between pain sensation and the social influence of previous ratings of
(2013) did not provide much support for the findings of this study. Generally speaking, however, the results do display theories of conformity. This experiment displays a form of the social impact theory, which is described as conforming to a social group because of the importance, immediacy, and number of people involved (Aaronson et al., 2013). Participants in Koban & Wager’s (2016) study may have experienced a change in pain sensation because they thought the study was of high importance. Perhaps the participants showed a change in pain sensation because the study was new and they related to the fictional participants whose pain ratings were presented to them. Imaginably the participants may have showed a change in pain ratings because of the high number of ratings by the fictional participants. Each of these possibilities are in due part to the social impact theory. Another theory of conformity that this study has in common with that of Kim & Hommel (2015), informational social influence. When the participants were presented with information of the experience of supposed previous participants, their ratings changed because the previous participants had already experienced and recorded the pain. Thus, participants used the previous records of pain as a source of