The theory of groupthink has been highly beneficial in the study of how groups make decisions. It has permeated almost every field containing decision making groups. Despite its popularity, there has been a surprising lack of empirical support for the model. It is the aim of this paper to suggest a possible explanation for the current state of groupthink research. First the groupthink model is described briefly, followed by a look at several selected empirical and case studies of groupthink. A potential reason for the dearth of empirical is then proposed along with a suggestion for future groupthink research.

The global rise of anti-vaccination movements has led to serious consequences for the public health such as the recent measles outbreak in the United States. The increased promotion of misleading information on vaccinations by social media influencers as well as by media outlets seems to have resulted into a more negative view on vaccinations. The popularity of these social media influencers and the good reputation and authority of the media outlets could have played a substantial role in these developments. The following experimental study will try to explore whether popularity or authority cues can have an impact on the evaluation of the credibility of these two types of sources via an online survey. Furthermore, it aims to examine whether said heuristic cues and resulting conformity effects or the source credibility in general could have an impact on the opinion of recipients on a potential autism-vaccination link. Results have shown that especially authority cues seem to have a positive impact on source credibility evaluations. Furthermore, a high general trust in the media positively influences assessments of source credibility of well-established news outlets. Popularity cues as well as authority cues seem to have a positive effect on the recipients´ opinion. However, authority cues and the resulting effects of informational conformity seem to lead to greater attitude changes. Particularly people with a high need for conformity exhibit considerable attitude changes when exposed to the well-established news outlet as a source. Also, a high perceived source credibility is positively correlated with a desired attitude change. Especially the high perceived credibility of the social media influencer resulted in significant attitude changes. The results underline the importance and positive impact that a perceived authority can have on source credibility assessments and on recipients’ opinions. This highlights the great necessity for self-proclaimed experts on social media platforms and particularly for well-established news outlets to increase their effort to thoroughly and accurately research health-related topics.

<p>Abstract</p><p>Title: Correlation between the levels of education and conformity to traditional masculine norms</p><p>Authors: Larsson, M., & Ljungqvist, D. (2008)</p><p>Objective: This study is an attempt to explain correlations between the levels of education and conformity to traditional masculine norms. It is mainly based on the social construction of gender. Background: A high level of education is associated with a healthy living, and a high conformity to traditional masculine norms associated with harmful health behaviours. The background also presents different views of masculinity, the construction of gender and the construction of norms. It also reflects about the recruitment to higher education. Methods: A questionnaire with three diffrent variables: level of education, number of years working after last graduation and a total score of the 22-item Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory, CMNI, which measures eleven different norms. 51 questionnaires from one particular arena were filled in for this study. The participants were all male and could be divided into three groups, by level of education. Results: The findings indicate that the average CMNI-score tends to decline with a higher level of education. It also indicates that, even if there is a difference in the average CMNI-score between the groups, it tends to correlate over time. Discussion: The present study proposes in the discussion that the social background is linked with the level of education, and goes on with theories of the creation of norms early in life. Furthermore, it focuses on the social environment of the workplace and its influence on the men working there.</p>

<p>Soldater och officerare blir i sin dagliga tjänsteutövning utsatt för press både psykiskt och fysiskt. Det finns en hel rad av faktorer som påverkar besluts- och grupprocesser och för att kunna förstå och identifiera risker i dessa processer måste det finnas en kunskap kring dessa. En företeelse vilken påverkar grupper och individer är konformiteten.</p><p> En faktor som skiljer soldater och officerare från många andra yrkesgrupper är den uniforma klädseln vilken många anser hör ihop med yrket.</p><p> Studien avser därför att undersöka hur den likformiga klädseln påverkar individens förmåga att tänka själv och dessutom handla utifrån den tanken. Utifrån detta syfte har en kärnfråga och tre delfrågor utkristalliserats. Delfrågornas syfte är att svara på kärnfrågan. Kärnfråga: Hur påverkar likformig klädsel den enskilda soldatens förmåga att stå emot konformitet?</p><p>Delfrågor:</p><p>-                  Har kläder någon betydelse i sociala sammanhang?</p><p>-                  Varför följer vissa gruppen och andra inte?</p><p>-                  Påverkas soldaten av likformig klädsel?</p><p>För att mäta hur den uniforma klädseln påverkar soldater, och därmed besvara frågorna, använder jag mig av Solomon Aschs konformitets experiment i en ny tappning. Baserat på resultatet från experimentet samt med stöd ur litteratur dras slutsatser om hur stor eller om det finns en påverkan på soldaters individualitet av den likformiga klädseln.</p><p>Jag kom i mitt arbete fram till att den likformiga klädseln ökar soldatens konformitet i en grupp. Den enskilda soldaten har lättare att falla för konformiteten när denne bär uniform klädsel i sitt tjänsteutövande. </p> / <p>Officers and soldiers are in their daily duty an object of both physical and psychological pressure. There are many factors that influence both the decision and group processes. To be able to understand and identify risks in these processes there has to be knowledge in this area. One phenomenon which influences groups and individuals is conformity.</p><p>One factor that divides the soldiers and officers from other categories of work is the uniform clothing which many think is intimately connected with that type of work.</p><p>That is why this study intends to examine how the uniform clothing influences the individuals’ ability to think for themselves and also act in that thought. On the basis of this, a core question and three part questions crystallized. The three questions are a help to answer the core problem. The core question: How does the uniform clothing influence the individual soldiers’ ability to resist conformity?</p><p>Part questions:</p><p>-        Does clothing have an importance in social contexts?</p><p>-        Why do some individuals follow the group and others not?</p><p>-        Is the soldier influenced by uniform clothing?</p><p>To measure how the uniform clothing influences soldiers, and thereby answer the questions, the writer used the conformity experiment by Solomon Asch slightly modified for his purposes. Based on the result from the experiment, as well as with support from literature, conclusions where drawn about how or if the soldiers’ individuality where influenced by the uniform clothing.</p><p>The conclusion was that the uniform clothing increases the soldiers’ conformity in a group. The individual soldier found it easier to adapt to the conformity when he/she wear uniform clothing during the exercise of his or her duties.</p>

Soldater och officerare blir i sin dagliga tjänsteutövning utsatt för press både psykiskt och fysiskt. Det finns en hel rad av faktorer som påverkar besluts- och grupprocesser och för att kunna förstå och identifiera risker i dessa processer måste det finnas en kunskap kring dessa. En företeelse vilken påverkar grupper och individer är konformiteten.  En faktor som skiljer soldater och officerare från många andra yrkesgrupper är den uniforma klädseln vilken många anser hör ihop med yrket.  Studien avser därför att undersöka hur den likformiga klädseln påverkar individens förmåga att tänka själv och dessutom handla utifrån den tanken. Utifrån detta syfte har en kärnfråga och tre delfrågor utkristalliserats. Delfrågornas syfte är att svara på kärnfrågan. Kärnfråga: Hur påverkar likformig klädsel den enskilda soldatens förmåga att stå emot konformitet? Delfrågor: -                  Har kläder någon betydelse i sociala sammanhang? -                  Varför följer vissa gruppen och andra inte? -                  Påverkas soldaten av likformig klädsel? För att mäta hur den uniforma klädseln påverkar soldater, och därmed besvara frågorna, använder jag mig av Solomon Aschs konformitets experiment i en ny tappning. Baserat på resultatet från experimentet samt med stöd ur litteratur dras slutsatser om hur stor eller om det finns en påverkan på soldaters individualitet av den likformiga klädseln. Jag kom i mitt arbete fram till att den likformiga klädseln ökar soldatens konformitet i en grupp. Den enskilda soldaten har lättare att falla för konformiteten när denne bär uniform klädsel i sitt tjänsteutövande. / Officers and soldiers are in their daily duty an object of both physical and psychological pressure. There are many factors that influence both the decision and group processes. To be able to understand and identify risks in these processes there has to be knowledge in this area. One phenomenon which influences groups and individuals is conformity. One factor that divides the soldiers and officers from other categories of work is the uniform clothing which many think is intimately connected with that type of work. That is why this study intends to examine how the uniform clothing influences the individuals’ ability to think for themselves and also act in that thought. On the basis of this, a core question and three part questions crystallized. The three questions are a help to answer the core problem. The core question: How does the uniform clothing influence the individual soldiers’ ability to resist conformity? Part questions: -        Does clothing have an importance in social contexts? -        Why do some individuals follow the group and others not? -        Is the soldier influenced by uniform clothing? To measure how the uniform clothing influences soldiers, and thereby answer the questions, the writer used the conformity experiment by Solomon Asch slightly modified for his purposes. Based on the result from the experiment, as well as with support from literature, conclusions where drawn about how or if the soldiers’ individuality where influenced by the uniform clothing. The conclusion was that the uniform clothing increases the soldiers’ conformity in a group. The individual soldier found it easier to adapt to the conformity when he/she wear uniform clothing during the exercise of his or her duties.

Abstract Title: Correlation between the levels of education and conformity to traditional masculine norms Authors: Larsson, M., &amp; Ljungqvist, D. (2008) Objective: This study is an attempt to explain correlations between the levels of education and conformity to traditional masculine norms. It is mainly based on the social construction of gender. Background: A high level of education is associated with a healthy living, and a high conformity to traditional masculine norms associated with harmful health behaviours. The background also presents different views of masculinity, the construction of gender and the construction of norms. It also reflects about the recruitment to higher education. Methods: A questionnaire with three diffrent variables: level of education, number of years working after last graduation and a total score of the 22-item Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory, CMNI, which measures eleven different norms. 51 questionnaires from one particular arena were filled in for this study. The participants were all male and could be divided into three groups, by level of education. Results: The findings indicate that the average CMNI-score tends to decline with a higher level of education. It also indicates that, even if there is a difference in the average CMNI-score between the groups, it tends to correlate over time. Discussion: The present study proposes in the discussion that the social background is linked with the level of education, and goes on with theories of the creation of norms early in life. Furthermore, it focuses on the social environment of the workplace and its influence on the men working there.

This research focuses on the methods of introduction into BDSM, role identification, and the management of private information as it relates to BDSM. The method utilized for this study was in-depth interviews of fifteen current participants in the BDSM subculture. It is primarily through peer association, sexual scripting, and impression management that new members are introduced, learn their role, and manage their information within the BDSM subculture. It was found that peer association is the primary method of socializing members. Role identification is accomplished through both a method of sexual scripting as well as complimentary differentiation, the process by which a stimulus is transmitted and received, and subsequent stimuli are transmitted back, reinterpreted and responded to. It is through impression management and stigma management that members learn to maintain the privacy of their participation. Future research should include additional analysis with a larger sample size to determine if the current findings will continue to hold true.

The objective of this thesis is to gain a deeper understanding of the disciplinary purpose of elementary school by asking authorities to define it in relation to education which takes place outside of school, and how school shapes the behavior of children by examining how the ones who deviate from its discipline are viewed and treated by its experts. In order to answer this I have used a phenomenological approach by interviewing several individuals’ common understanding of the disciplinary purpose of school, and found that the school disciplines by the use of surface-rearing, in-depth rearing, and group conformity. The theories which has helped to understand the empirical data and put it in a larger context is Foucault’s theories of discipline, Durkheim’s theory of moral authority and social facts, and Aronson’s theories of conformity. The study has revealed that the disciplinary purpose of school is of equal or greater importance than the purpose of transmitting knowledge, and it reveals that the discipline is not merely a method which the teacher uses on its students, but that the school itself works as an apparatus of discipline. / Syftet med denna studie är att få en djupare förståelse av grundskolans mål av att disciplinera genom att be myndigheter att definiera det i relation till utbildning som tar plats utanför skolan, och hur skolan formar barns beteende genom att studera hur de som avviker från disciplinen uppfattas och behandlas av skolans experter. För att svara på detta har jag använt mig av en fenomenologisk ansats genom att intervjua ett flertal individers gemensamma upplevelse av skolans disciplinära mål, och upptäckte att skolan disciplinerar genom att använda djup fostran, ytfostran, och grupp konformitet. De teorier som har hjälpt med att förstå det empiriska materialet och satt det i en större kontext är Foucaults teorier om disciplin, Durkheims moral auktoritet och sociala fakta, och Aronsons teorier om konformitet. Studien har visat att skolans disciplinära mål är lika viktig eller viktigare än skolans mål av att förmedla kunskap, och den visar att disciplineringen inte endast är något som sker mellan lärarna och eleverna, utan att skolan i sig är ett disciplinärt verktyg.

The present study aimed to integrate situational and dispositional perspectives on the investigation of unethical and dishonest behavior through an experimental and a correlational study. More explicitly, the current study explored the effects of state self-control and social influence on cheating, and investigated the trait self control and conformity as predictors of academic dishonesty. Two preliminary studies were conducted. First, a pilot study with 230 undergraduate students was conducted to assess the reliability of the Turkish versions of the four scales intended to measure the constructs of interest. All four scales were found to have sufficient reliabilities. A second preliminary study was conducted to observe and to ameliorate the effects of two manipulations constructed for the main study, namely the rewriting task (depletory versus neutral) and the norm induction (deciding to cheat, not to cheat or to meet with a friend after the study). The main study was conducted with 87 undergraduate students. Correlational results underlined the importance of low self-control and high susceptibility to social influence as predictors of past behavior of academic dishonesty. Experimental results revealed that first, groups

This thesis explores young people’s transgenderings through negotiations of language, bodies and experiences of different peer and community-based support spaces in Aotearoa New Zealand. It critically examines what ‘support’ means for young people in relation to developing subjectivities and embodiments shaped by being both young and transgender/ gender non-conforming. While these perspectives are varied, I argue that the production of community and peer-based support for those who are both young and transgender or gender non-conforming has been undergoing a period of significant change, reflecting queer and postmodern shifts which have worked to re-conceptualise the ways queer and transgender communities and peers are imagined, incorporating a greater inclusive focus on diversity. Utilising Sara Ahmed’s concept of queer phenomenology and post-structuralist theory, the thesis thinks beyond binary approaches to gender and support, to consider support and gender non-conformity through the process of ‘disorientation’. Throughout this project both ‘gender’ and ‘support’ are positioned as being subjective, embodied and discursive knowledges and actions, represented in multiple and contradictory ideas, identities and expressions of the different participants. The study utilises in-depth qualitative interviews with participants who are young people (aged 16-30 years) and support providers and developers of transgender/queer based support in Aotearoa New Zealand. Working with young people and support providers, this research provides an analysis of support development for transgender and gender non-conforming young people in Aotearoa New Zealand, arguing that all participants in support (both providers and recipients) are shaping its provision.