Question

Recall that Muzafer Sherif (1936) used the autokinetic effect to measure participants' estimates of the apparent movement of a stationary spot of light. In what sense did Sherif's findings illustrate informational social influence?

Answer 1

The correct answer to this open question is the following.

Sherif's findings illustrate informational social influence in the following way.

In 1936, he conducted a study on human conformity.  He put people in a dark room and told them to watch a pinpoint of light. They had to say how far it moved. He wanted to study the autokinetic effect, where the light in the darkroom does not move but people think otherwise.

Sherif wanted to apply this principle that "it is what people believe" in a study to see how people are influenced by other people's point of vies. Sherif noted that most of the time people tend to believe what other people say, instead of trust their own perspective. His experiment showed how group norms influence people due to interaction and people do as they say, although what they do is wrong.