READING 2

Social Influence on Political Judgments: The Case of Presidential Debates by Fein, Goethals, & Kugler (2007)

Please refer to the printed reader, Readings in Social Psychology 4/e, for the text of this article.

Overview

As discussed in Chapter 7 (Conformity) of the text, informational conformity is a form of social influence that occurs in ambiguous situations when people seek to imitate others because they are not sure about what to do and they don’t want to do the wrong thing. The researchers of this study, Fein, Goethals, and Kugler, suggest that presidential debates are such ambiguous situations, too complex for most people to understand on their own. They therefore theorized that participants who were asked to view and evaluate presidential debates would look to others for informational clues and conform to others’ thinking. Four experiments were carried out to test that hypothesis. In the first and second experiments, participants watched the 1984 Reagan-Mondale debate unedited, or with either the “sound bites” or the audience’s reaction to them deleted. In the third experiment, participants received false feedback about the reaction of others in the room to the same debate. Finally, in the fourth experiment, participants viewed the 1992 Bush-Clinton presidential debate on the day it was aired, in two groups, in the company of confederates who loudly supported either Bush or Clinton and jeered the other. In all four studies, there was clear evidence for informational conformity, with participants being influenced by the audience reactions, the false feedback, or the confederates in the room.

Critical Thinking Questions

  1. Explain why the researchers state that conformity in this study is based on a desire to be right rather than liked.
  2. What exactly is a “sound bite” and what makes it so influential?
  3. If individuals are less likely to be persuaded by peripherals, like the booing or cheering of others, when the message is important, why did the participants conform in the fourth (real-time) debate?
  4. These studies were carried out using college undergraduates. Do you think the results would be different if the participants were older? Why?
  5. Why do the researchers say that debate audiences should keep quiet and that moderators should keep their thoughts to themselves? Do you agree that it’s better to air debates without reactions?
  6. Explain why the researchers are pessimistic about the role of the Internet in future presidential debates. Can you justify a more positive outlook?

Links for Further Investigation

CNN runs an interesting site devoted to all presidential debates held prior to 2000. The site discusses the history of presidential debates and their political influence, highlights memorable moments, and provides a comprehensive review of each debate. Visit the site at:

At this site, which is devoted to the classic Asch 1951 conformity experiment, visitors can view the list of factors that were found to affect conformity in the Asch study, learn about the different types of conformity, and read about a variation on Asch’s study. Moreover, a link presents an article in the Economist about how retail stores exploit people’s herd mentality to make a profit. Visit the sight at: