Pyramids & Bananas Social conformity and personality differences

1. Pyramids & BananasSocial conformity and personality differences Institution faculty advisor Kassidy Strickland Jihun Hwang Joshua Miller Middle Tennessee State University Dr. William Langston

2. Background Asch’s Conformity Experiments • What is social conformity? • Hypothesis • Once a person has committed orally to a response, will their private answer reflect their initial response? • Results

3. Background Markovsky and Thye Is pyramid power real? Hypothesis 1 (social impact theory): can paranormal beliefs be transmitted to one person by mere exposure to a credulous source, even in non persuasive contexts? Can the social status of the confederate have an impact on conformity? Asked to rate the freshness of two equally fresh bananas to determine if confederate influence would have an effect. Results

4. Our Hypotheses and Predictions Confederate Influence No Confederate Influence • If there is no confederate influence, participants will be more likely to rate the bananas as equal • Social Impact Theory will be supported • There will be a relationship between individual personality and social conformity. • There will be a negative correlation between extroversion and social conformity.

5. Methods • 23 MTSU students in the library • Informed consent • Background information • Explanation and examples of Pyramid Power • Ratings • NEO-PI • Debriefing • Difference scores

6. Background Information • Age • Year in college • Major • GPA • Paranormal belief-1,3,6-9 personal belief-14-20 friends’ paranormal belief-13 pyramid power belief

7. Explanation of Pyramid Power • Focus of energy on objects stored beneath or within • Preservative and restorative effects • Sharpen razor blades • Cure illness • Bodies of Pharaohs entombed in pyramids well preserved

8. Banana Exposure The participants were told that the previous week one banana was placed under a pyramid and the other was placed under a box.

9. Avoiding Bias

10. Ratings • Box banana verses pyramid banana • Oral ratings-preserved-unpreserved-fresh-rotten-hard-soft-light-dark • Private rating-new-old

11. Confederate influence (experimental group)Alternate between oral ratings, always beginning with the confederate No confederate influence (control group) Indication of all oral ratings at once, beginning with the participant

12. Difference Scores Conformity=1 pyramid > box No conformity = 0 pyramid = box or box > pyramid Degree to which the scores differed

13. Difference scores • Followed Markovsky and Thye’s between participants comparison • Also compared within participants • If there is a difference between oral and private ratings, could there be a correlation to personality types?

14. Results

15. discussion • Three participants taken out. - Exclusion of the NEO for one-Two were supposed to be part of control but had confederate influence because although went first, alternated between ratings.-Although participant began each rating, conformed to confederate towards the end of the oral ratings • Our findings of different oral and private ratings contradict Asch's original experiments • There are correlations between personality types and social conformity. If sample size was larger, would have had more significant findings.

16. Future Research • Josh

17. Explanations for correlations • Negative relationship between extroversion and social conformity • Positive correlation between conscientiousness and social conformity • Positive relationship between neuroticism and oral conformity, and positive relation between neuroticism and difference between oral and private

18. Social Conformity and Personality Differences Primary Investigator Kassidy StricklandCo-Investigator Joshua MillerCo-Investigator Jihun HwangExperimenter Kassidy StricklandConfederate Joshua MillerParticipant Gatherer Juhun HwangFaculty Advisor Dr. William LangstonUniversity MTSUInvestigator Status UndergraduateType of Project Class ProjectClass Research Methods References Markovsky and Thye Asch NEO-PI PBS