GROUP INFLUENCES ON SELF-AGGRESSION: CONFORMITY AND DISSENTER EFFECTS

Evidence that intentional self-aggressive behaviors are influenced by social groups comes almost exclusively from nonexperimental retrospective studies which fail to address underlying causal processes. Recently, we conducted a study in which experimentally manipulated group norms were found to dire...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of social and clinical psychology 2009-05, Vol.28 (5), p.535-553
Main Authors: SLOAN, Paul A, BERMAN, Mitchell E, ZEIGLER-HILL, Virgil, BULLOCK, Joshua S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aggression
Aggressiveness
Biological and medical sciences
Causal processes
Competition
Conformism
Conformity
Extremes
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Gender
Influence
Moderated
Norms
Psychological effects
Psychology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Retrospective studies
Self
Self destructive behavior
Social influence
Social interactions. Communication. Group processes
Social psychology
Studies
Suicides & suicide attempts
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Summary:Evidence that intentional self-aggressive behaviors are influenced by social groups comes almost exclusively from nonexperimental retrospective studies which fail to address underlying causal processes. Recently, we conducted a study in which experimentally manipulated group norms were found to directly influence self-aggressive behavior (Sloan, Berman, Zeigler-Hill, Greer, & Mae, 2006). The present study was designed to gain a better understanding of the process by which social groups influence self-aggression. More specifically, we examined the effects of dissenters on the adoption of a self-aggressive group norm. Participants N = 164) were assigned to one of the following conditions: a unanimous self-aggressive group, a nonunanimous group with a single dissenter in either the first or last position who did not engage in self-aggressive behavior, and a group with no systematic agreement concerning self-aggression. Self-aggression was operationally defined as the use of an extreme shock that was self-administered by the participant within the context of an attention task. Results demonstrated that the adoption of a self-aggressive group norm was significantly weakened by the presence of a dissenter. This effect was moderated by gender such that the presence of a dissenter had a greater impact on the self-aggressive behavior of women than it did for men. Clinical and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]
ISSN:0736-7236
1943-2771
DOI:10.1521/jscp.2009.28.5.535