title: Conformity to the opinions of other people lasts for no more than 3 days.
abstract: When people are faced with opinions different from their own, they often revise their own opinions to match those held by other people. This is known as the social-conformity effect. Although the immediate impact of social influence on people's decision making is well established, it is unclear whether this reflects a transient capitulation to public opinion or a more enduring change in privately held views. In an experiment using a facial-attractiveness rating task, we asked participants to rate each face; after providing their rating, they were informed of the rating given by a peer group. They then rerated the same faces after 1, 3, or 7 days or 3 months. Results show that individuals' initial judgments are altered by the differing opinions of other people for no more than 3 days. Our findings suggest that because the social-conformity effect lasts several days, it reflects a short-term change in privately held views rather than a transient public compliance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, School of Psychology, South China Normal University Center for Studies of Psychological Application, School of Psychology, South China Normal University.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Neuroinformation, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China.
authors.forename: Keith M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Kendrick
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, School of Psychology, South China Normal University Center for Studies of Psychological Application, School of Psychology, South China Normal University rongjun.yu@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Rongjun
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Yu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D011639:Public Opinion; D012925:Social Conformity; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: decision making; long-term effect; social conformity