Academic English Skills Coursework 1: Source Report
Name:
Ng Man Huen Class:
SFH1 Date:
03-02-2020
Essay title or question:
Title:
Can social influence research fully explain why we go along with the majority?
Plan for overall structure of essay:
Plan for overall structure
Introduction: Meaning of influence and conformity
P1. Difference between Majority and Minority
P2. Background: The purpose of why people follow the majority
P3. Important details of people’s behaviours by following bad influence
P4. The brain impact while conformity happens
P5. Various experiment process and results
Conclusion Result yes
Part 1: Annotated List of Sources
Select TWO sources you have read and plan to use in your essay and complete the table below outlining:
• why the text is useful for your essay
• how you found the source.
You will focus on three different sources in part 2. Note that you should summarise and paraphrase key information in the text in order to demonstrate that you have understood the sources. You may use bullet points. You are not marked for your language accuracy, but you will be penalised for copying text from the source.
Include a reference in the following format:
Books / chapters of books:
Surname, I. and Surname, I. (Year) Title of the book Place of Publication: Publisher
Surname, I. (Year) ‘Chapter of the book’ In: I. Surname & I. Surname (Eds) Title of the book Place of Publication:
Publisher pp.1 – 18
Journal articles (print/ online)
Surname, I. (Year) ‘The Title of the Article’ The Name of the Journal 1 (1), pp. 1- 18
Reports / articles online
Surname, I. (Year) ‘The Title of the Article or Report’ [Online] The Name of the Organisation or website. Available at:
url [Last Accessed 23.07.19]
Lectures / talks
Surname, I. (Year) ‘The Title of the Lecture or Talk’ [Online] TED Available at: url [Last Accessed 23.07.19]
Source 1
Type of source:
Journal
Reference:
Jack A. Goncalo, Michelle M. Duguid; May 2012; “Follow the crowd in a new direction: When conformity pressure facilities group creativity (and when it does not)”; Organisational Behaviour and Human Decision Processes, page 14-23
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0749597811001555
This source is relevant because…
It presents that situations under conformity pressure might lead to cause less or advance group creativity. The article shows that conformity pressure can stimulate group creativity under various circumstances. It suggests that the influence may be a strong mechanism for advancing group creativity. Jack presents the importance of
conformity pressure changing group own character formation.
I found this source by…
Using Google Scholar. I entered “Why do people follow the crowd” and I was able to find out the summary of how adopting a person by state communication approach.
Source 2
Type of source:
Journal
Reference:
Michael Rosander, Oskar Eriksson, September 2012, “Conformity On The Internet- The role of task difficulty and gender difference”, Computers in Human Behaviour, page 1587-1595
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563212000891
This source is relevant because…
It explains why people in real-life mimic what most people do even they know it’s false. It gives a strong explanation of why others would follow conformity. For example, gender difficulties, task difficulties e.t.c leading to different reasons why they follow the majority actions. It shows the purpose of the research was to study the conformity performance in the use of the internet. There is a clear result of the experiment.
I found this source by…
Using Google Scholar. I entered “Conformity, Human Behaviour” as the keyword.
Part 2: Source Report
Complete the source report for THREE more sources you have read. Include:
• The reference
• How you have identified the source as suitable for academic use
• Three main points from the source which are useful for your essay, the supporting information for each idea or argument and which paragraph in the essay each main point is useful for. Make sure you cover at least three different aspects of your essay.
• Conclusions you have drawn from your reading.
Source 3
Reference:
Reports; 11 February 2019 ; “Following the Majority: Social Influence in Trusting Behaviour”; Zhenyu Wei, Zhiying Zhao and Yong Zheng; Front. Neurosci ;
Ahern, K. R., Duchin, R., and Shumway, T. (2014). Peer effects in risk aversion and trust. Rev. Financ. Stud. 27, 3213–3240. doi: 10.1093/rfs/hhu042
Asch, S. E. (1956). Studies of independence and conformity: a minority of one against a unanimous majority. Psychol. Monogr.70, 1–70. doi: 10.1037/h0093718
Berns, G. S., Capra, C. M., Moore, S., and Noussair, C. (2010). Neural mechanisms of the influence of popularity on adolescent ratings of music. Neuroimage 49, 2687–2696. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.10.070
Source Evaluation
Currency
When was the text published? Are the citations and references used in the text current?
* The article evaluates research about conformity and how people adopt this approach that
is expected to determine the actions. The article was written in 2019 and it covers
well-detailed and convincing explanations about the topic, along with examples showing
how crowd behaviour reacts an event from happening.
*The paragraph was published 1 year ago, it has incredibly new information
Therefore, this reference has very high currency.
Authority
Who is the author / organisation? Are they qualified? Is the source peer-reviewed?
*Three researchers contribute to this article; the leader of the team worked as a doctorate in neuroscience in both Radbound University and Southwest University. She studied in departments that includes psychology which are Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Neural Decision Science Laboratory and also Department of Psychology. The other researchers had been studying as a Post Doctoral researcher and also studied in southwest university.
* It can be recognised that they well academic and it was published in news and views sections, therefore, it has high reliability. It is peer reviewed by Radbound University.
Accuracy
Where does the information in the article come from? Are academic conventions used?
*The article references other academic resources and studies. It presents well reliable
evidence as to their support. The article has a clear purpose and was able to assess
different effects in the research including positive and negative.
Use of Source
Relevant key point from the text Supporting evidence / example/ data for the key point This point is useful for paragraph…
Definition of social influence
*Turner (1991) refers to individuals’ action of adopting the opinions, behaviours, and judgments of others
* Asch (1951) used a simple line judgment task to examine social conformity
*People mostly change their views and behaviors in order to respect with social norms, even if the majority choice is against their individual preference. (Cialdini and Goldstein, 2004, Haun et al, 2013)
*Three types of intrinsic motivations are a desire to obtain social agreement of others, a desire to make a precise choice, and a desire to keep an optimistic self-concept (Cialdini and Goldstein,2014)
*P1 Introudction describing
The information is useful as it provides explanations of the my topic “influence” clearly by famous psychoogists.
Changes in Brain Figure
* Results shown that the trust influence which positively persuaded conformity in trusting performance triggered the brain areas such as bilateral parahippocampal gyrus. (Frith and Frith 2003)
*P4 brain structures changes while conformity or any pressure were happening
The information shows the reaction of how brain would change when it’s under conformity pressure.
Evidence of the relationship between social influence and trust decisions
* individuals are likely to be influenced by others’ opinions and conform to the opinions of peers in a trust game. (Frith and Frit 2003)
*P2 Background of why people follow the majority
The information shows the evidences is useful as it provides examples of how it was like to influence, it mentioned it was like a trust game therefore, it proven it depends on different sources
Source 4
Reference:
Book; “Conformity In The Asch Experiment”; Knud S. Larsen;, Published online: 01 Jul 2010; pages 303-304; “The Journal Of Social Psychology”1974, volume 94, 1974; Issue 2; https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00224545.1974.9923224?journalCode=vsoc20
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Knud_Larsen4
Source Evaluation
Currency
When was the text published? Are the citations and references used in the text current?
*This book was published on 2010, which is 10 years ago. It was written on 1973, but it covers the greatest experiment about conformity and influence in psychology industry. Although this book had been written long time ago but the research result hasn’t had change significantly, therefore this source is still reliable.
Authority
Who is the author / organisation? Are they qualified? Is the source peer-reviewed?
*This author is a professor emeritus at Oregon State University and is an Academician with the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. He does researches in Social Psychology. It was peer reviewed by Oregon State University.
Accuracy
Where does the information in the article come from? Are academic conventions used?
* The purpose of the article is to examine the pressure of conformity. It wrote the whole process of how the experiment was done and proven that conformity happens and is common to follow the majority
*This article is based on academic findings and datas, so it has high reliability
Use of Source
Relevant key point from the text Supporting evidence / example/ data for the key point This point is useful for paragraph…
Procedure of Asch study
*18 trials comparing 2 cards. One card had one line, the other three of different lengths. One of the three line matches with the other card’s line. Actors would purposely give out wrong answers and examine if the person might follow with the crowd. (Asch 1973)
*what to seek for investigate which social pressure from a majority group could affect a person
*P5 Experiment Examples for Conformity
It is one of the most famous conformity experience and the article is useful as it provides detailed progress of the experiment.
Results of Ash Study
*At least 76% people conformed at least once due to pressure (Asch 1973)
*He believed that the main problem with Sherif’s (1935) conformity experiment was that there was no correct answer to the experiment.
*P5 experiment results for conformity
this experiment shows very important result because it proven that conformity happens under pressured conditions.
Reasons of Conformity in the experiment
*Going along with the majority even if they don’t agree with other’s opinions because they want to be accepted (Asch 1973)
*It can causes low self esteem and lack of motions (Asch 1973)
*P3 Bad effect when people often follow the majority.
This experiment shows the reasons why conformity was shown and what the bad effect were when they do have conformity.
Source 5
Reference:
ResearchGate ; “Persuasion from majority and minority groups” ; January 2008; Robin Martin, Miles Hewstone, Antonis Gardikiotis; Racial discrimination by low-prejudiced Whites: Facial movements as implicit measures of attitudes related to behaviour; https://www.researchgate.net/publication/40499824_Persuasion_from_majority_and_minority_groups
Source Evaluation
Currency
When was the text published? Are the citations and references used in the text current?
*This article was published on 2008, containing important details about persuasion from different groups leading to the conformity problem. Although the article was published years ago but the research field hasn’t changed much. Therefore, the source is still appropriate to use.
Authority
Who is the author / organisation? Are they qualified? Is the source peer-reviewed?
* The four researchers that contributed the research all come from well-educated background. They all worked in several university department. The leader of the research is from university of manchester’s division of people, management and organisation. the other three researchers are from university of oxford’s department of experimental psychology, aston university and aristole university of thessaloniki’s school journalism and mass media studies. They are well qualified, giving them strong authority in their field.
*The article is written by academic peer-reviewed journal, therefore it has high reliability.
Accuracy
Where does the information in the article come from? Are academic conventions used?
*The article references different academic researches. It uses appropriate academic resolutions to provide proof to their claims and testimony. It also shows details of different hypothesis and theories to support their concepts.
*The sources use academic research to support their ideas, therefore the accuracy is high and it’s proven to be trustworthy.
Use of Source
Relevant key point from the text Supporting evidence / example/ data for the key point This point is useful for paragraph…
Research testing conversion theory can be grouped into three main hypothesis
*(p3 Moscovici’s 1980,1985)
The direction of attention hypothesis (Moscovici’s 1980,1985)
The content of thinking hypothesis
The differential influence hypothesis
P3 the importance that what leads to conformity and it might lead to bad behaviours
This information is important for my essay as it shows the hypothesis that cause following the majority
Clear definition and difference of minority and majority
*(P3)
The article shows the majority and minority effect research as separate phenomena.
Conversion theory, Moscovici (1980) believes that people employ different processes with different outcomes.
P1 Definition of Minority and Majority
This information provides comparison and definition between majority and minority. They also used different terms to describe
Moscovici’s book (1976)
Social change and social influence
*he called the explanation of social influence as “genetic” (Moscovici 1976)
* the proposition
that all attempts at social influence create conflict between the source and the recipient of
influence
the proposition
that all attempts at social influence create conflict between the source and the recipient of
influence
*The proposition that all challenges at social influence make conflict between the source and the recipient of influence (Moscovici 1976)
*He believes that minority can creates conflict too instead of majority due to dominating majority view
P3 the importance that what leads to conformity and it might lead to bad behaviours
Most people believed that only majority would causes conformity. But this provens that minority can also causes conflicts too
Conclusions drawn from your reading
• Research suggest that people follow the majority due to scientific facts.
• Brains react differently when people were under pressure of conformity and they would trigger different brain areas.
• Conformity experiments have proven that it happens to everyone in the society.
• It was shown that there will be bad effect while following too much conformity.
There is evidence that there are many experiments and researches that were proven that it can explain fully the reasons and behaviour with conformity problem.
You will be given a tutorial following submission of the assessment. In the tutorial, you will be asked to:
• Show your tutor how you found your sources
• Talk your tutor through what you think are the useful parts of the sources
You will also be given opportunity to:
• Ask any questions you have on the assessment
• Get feedback on the work you have done so far
This assessment is worth 40% of your reading mark.