Sherif (1935)

Psychology: AQA A Level, topic 1.1.4

Sherif (1935) Autokinetic Effect Experiment

Sherif (1935) tried to show that people conform to group norms when they're performing an ambiguous task.

Laboratory experiment.
Sherif used the autokinetic effect. This is where a dot of light is projected onto a screen in a dark room. The light appears to move even though it's not moving. The dot appearing to move is a visual illusion.
Participants were led to believe that someone was moving the light. They were asked to guess how far the light moved.
They were tested in three phases.
Phase 1 - Participants made guesses individually.
Phase 2 - Participants made guesses in groups of three.
Phase 3 - Participants made guesses individually.

In phase 1, individual guesses varied a lot (by 20cm - 80cm).
In phase 2, participant's guesses tended to converge to a common estimate.
In phase 3, individuals made guesses closer to the common group estimates than their initial estimates.

The experiment showed that people look to others for guidance when they face ambiguous situations (like the autokinetic effect).
When people don't have all the information they need, they look to others for information. This is called informational conformity.
Participants' estimates converged and a group norm formed because participants were influenced by other participants' estimates. They were influenced by informational social influence.

Variables were strictly controlled in the laboratory. This means:
A third variable shouldn't have influenced results and we should be able to establish cause and effect.
The method was replicable as participant variables could be controlled and kept constant.

Deception - participants believed the stationary light was moving.
Narrow sample - only males participated. This reduces the generalisability of the results.
Artificial situation - participants made estimates about the movement of a stationary light. This is not a natural situation, so the experiment has low ecological validity (it cannot be generalised well to real-life situations).