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How conformity can lead to polarised social behaviour.

ABSTRACT: Learning social behaviour of others strongly influences one's own social attitudes. We compare several distinct explanations of this phenomenon, testing their predictions using computational modelling across four experimental conditions. In the experiment, participants chose repeatedly whether to pay for increasing (prosocial) or decreasing (antisocial) the earnings of an unknown other. Halfway through the task, participants predicted the choices of an extremely prosocial or antisocial agent (either a computer, a single participant, or a group of participants). Our analyses indicate that participants polarise their social attitude mainly due to normative expectations. Specifically, most participants conform to presumed demands by the authority (vertical influence), or because they learn that the observed human agents follow the norm very closely (horizontal influence).

SUBMITTER: Panizza F

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8559952 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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How conformity can lead to polarised social behaviour.

Panizza Folco F Vostroknutov Alexander A Coricelli Giorgio G

PLoS computational biology 20211020 10

Learning social behaviour of others strongly influences one's own social attitudes. We compare several distinct explanations of this phenomenon, testing their predictions using computational modelling across four experimental conditions. In the experiment, participants chose repeatedly whether to pay for increasing (prosocial) or decreasing (antisocial) the earnings of an unknown other. Halfway through the task, participants predicted the choices of an extremely prosocial or antisocial agent (ei ...[more]

PMID: 34669694

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