Power Function between Duration of Friendly Interaction and Conformity in Perception and Judgments

Abstract

Undergraduate students (24 male, 24 female) participated in an experiment employing the autokinetic illusion to investigate the effects of durations of friendly interactions on conformity. Subjects of each sex were randomly assigned to four treatment conditions: no confederate, 0-sec., 42-sec., and 420-sec. friendly interaction periods. The dependent measure was the difference in inches or fractions of an inch between subjects' and confederate's estimates. It was predicted that the 420-sec. treatment condition would produce a smaller difference in inches than either the 0- or 42-sec. condition. Results showed a significant effect of durations of friendly interaction on conformity. It was concluded that friendly interaction was a factor in determining conformity involving perception and judgment and could serve as a model for obtaining power function relationships using other social variables.

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