Informative Social Conformity

Introduction

According to A Student's Dictionary of Psychology, by Nicky Hayes and Peter Stratton  p.61, conformity is "...The social process by which  people in a group or in a social situation engage in behaviour which appears to be socially acceptable, that is, they go along with the social expectations apparent at the time."
      Informative social conformity, according to http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/social-conformity-definition-social-vs-informational.html#lesson "...is conformity that occurs because of the desire to be correct. In Asch's experiment, some of the participants stated that they believed they must be wrong since no one else agreed with them. They changed their answer so that they would be 'right.' Informational conformity is so named because we believe that it gives us information that we did not previously have. For example, imagine you walk into a food court at a mall. There are three stalls open, yet the entire crowd is seated and eating in front of only one of them. Would you, as the newcomer, assume that that particular stall has the best food because everyone else is eating there?

Informational conformity typically comes from the thought of, 'They must know something I don't know.' In many situations, we are unsure of how to act or what to say. So, another example of informational conformity is when we travel to other countries. Typically, we're unsure of how to act and rely on our observations of others to point us in the right direction. When we change our behaviour based on the actions of the locals, we are demonstrating informational conformity."
    
      

            Informative Social Conformity: Applications 

                                                      Mediumship and psychic development circles

 Mediumship (and psychic) development circles are not secluded from involving psychology. Indeed, it is an interesting area to study psychology in a social-type context. Informative social conformity is no different. During a mediumship circle, in which different people give someone a mediumistic reading, informative social conformity can occur, even if it is not necessarily intended. Whilst it could be seen by spiritualists that a particular feature is picked up on by more than one person and so, therefore, is "evidence" that it came from a spiritual source, it is seen very differently from a psychologist's perspective and is an example of 'informative social conformity'. 

     For example, imagine that one person saw a deceased person and began to describe what they looked like to the recipient (another member of the circle). "She's got brown hair, shoulder-length and is a very feminine lady," Person 1 (a developing medium) tells the recipient. The host medium then asks another person - Person 2 - to give the recipient a reading. Most likely, Person 2 will have taken in what details Person 1 had given and will shape their reading to the recipient as to fit what Person 1 had said (so they are assuming that the details given by Person 1 were correct and do not attempt to give information that would go against Person 1's reading). "She likes to wear necklaces, high-shoes and ..." Person 2 states. Essentially, Person 1 gave Person 2's reading a sort of "structure" on which they could base their reading. There may also be some overlap or even repetition. Because it has been said that the deceased person was rather feminine, Person 2 does not need to try too hard, because they could just not try at the "real" mediumship (acquiring information with the mind through getting into a meditative, relaxed state of mind or trance with a mind empty of mundane thoughts and 'open' to information that may present itself through mental imagery -'clairvoyance' - or mental sounds - 'clairaudience' - or intuitive impressions or feelings. Not necessarily from a spiritual source, as the information could just come from the medium's subconscious mind.) and, in fact, the Person 2 could describe a rather stereotypical feminine lady without even attempting 'proper' mediumship (described above). So if Person does not try too hard and bases their information on what Person 1 had said, it is not only an example of informative social conformity but, also, is a case of social loafing, in which one person works harder or puts more effort into an activity (Person 1), than other people who put less effort in (Person 2). 

      After Person 2, informative social conformity and social loafing become increasingly likely to occur, because as the previous people described the spirit person, the people after don't need to try to hard and base their information on that given, for instance, by Persons A and B who had been before them. Of course, it would be impossible for the host medium to pick up on this happening (if he or she has any knowledge of psychology, of course) because it is in a setting in which each individual is supposed to be doing mediumship (channelling spirits) and since each person uses their mind to do so, if they use some other process or technique to that of mediumship, the medium would not know. The developing mediums, such as Person 2, may not be aware of it, either, because they may be giving information that 'comes' to their mind (which their mind may have acquired, based on information given by Person 1) and so Person 2 may just get 'information' that appears in their mind that may not have come from their subconscious mind or a mind of an incarnate entity. Essentially, the information may have come, instead, from the conscious mind or a part of the mind to do with memory - the hippocampus perhaps - that is involved in short term memory. 

    Mediumistic readings become easier to do for Persons 3, 4, 5 and 6, for the reasons given above. Whether they do use mediumship or not is up to their own minds and they may not even be aware of it if they are not using mediumship. Person 6's reading should be easiest, because, as with all of the Persons 3, 4 and 5, they can repeat certain bits - such as the shoes and femininity - regardless of whether they actually picked up on them or not, because it makes it easier to do the reading. For someone who doesn't do it properly, they can do this 'hot reading' deliberately to make it seem that they are doing mediumship properly - making it appear that they are picking up on the same information from/about the spirit like the others. 

    

Energy sensing

As already been stated, just because something stated by one person is consequently repeated by someone else, does not mean that:

a) the first person's statement was correct

b) the information was got through paranormal means (e.g. from a spiritual source)

Figure 1

This is also true for workshops and groups (including psychic and mediumship development groups that also do this activity occasionally) that involve trying to "feel" or "sense" energy. Whilst it is inappropriate in Reiki healing "share" sessions for Person 2 to place their hands in exactly the same places as Person 1 did, in order to give Reiki to the recipient, since Reiki had already been given to that area of the body, informative social conformity and social loafing can still occur in other situations involving energy work, which are focussed on sensing energy. 

    For example, imagine there is a workshop based in an ancient stone circle, with all involved trying to "feel" the energy of the standing stones, concentrating on one in particular (Stone 1). The host of the group, Mary, asks people (Persons 1, 2, 3 and 4) to individually try and "feel" the energy of the stone. Already, the suggestion has been given that Stone 1 has some sort of energy that can be felt - presumably thermic, since Persons 1, 2, 3 and 4 are asked to lay both hands on a different area of the stone to each other and are supposed to be sensing the energy with their hands (see Figure 1). Each person is asked to report back if they get anything. After a while:

• Person 1 notices that their hands are feeling very warm
• Person 2 feels tingling/pins and need sensations in their hands - the left more than the right
• Person 3 gets quite drowsy and sleepy
• Person 4 gets light-headed and thinks they can feel the kundalini running through their body

Each participant got an individual response which they each attributed to the stone.Furthermore, Persons 1, 2 and 4 report that the stone had 'hot spots' on which they'd placed their hands. However, this is perfectly explainable, since the stone had been heated by the sun earlier in the day and had retained the heat. 

  Why did each person get a different reaction? For one thing, they were all different. Person 1 may have felt quite cool prior to touching the stone, so may have been more inclined to noticed the stone feeling very warm, whilst Person 2 was perhaps a little bit not quite down to earth - perhaps she is also quite sensitive and is rather meditative; Person 3 was probably quite tired and needed a good rest and was prone to getting into a drowsy, sleepy state during the energy-sensing activity; whilst, finally, Person 4 was probably rather spiritual and dream - maybe also a dedicated meditator.

   Of course, maybe the response to energy is subjective and perhaps its interpretation is subject to one's state of mind. Anyway, so Persons 1, 2, 3 and 4 remark on what they got. Persons 5, 6, 7 and 8 go and do energy sensing, but because they overheard what ther others had got, they are prone to suggestion and informative social conformity. They heard that Person 1 had felt hot spots on a particular area of the stone, so at least one person will want to feel that for themselves and because they are open to the suggestion and perhaps due to believing that Person 1 is correct, they will find evidence to support Person 1's idea of a hot spot area. They will feel heat in their hands. Person 1 was correct! There is definitely a hot spot over here! They might think. It will strengthen their belief that Stone 1 has an energy and that they are feeling it now.
     So now another person (Person 5) has also felt the "hot spot" and he/she will mention it to the others - Persons 6, 7 and 8 who will also place their hands over the same area to see if they can feel it too.


See also: Psychology