Social influence is the way in which one or more people alter the attitudes or the behavior of others the mere presence of others can change our behavior, as illustrated by the results from studies in which research participants perform some task either alone or in the presence of others. Typically, people in groups perform better (social facilitation), but sometimes their performance is worse in a group or with an audience. One attempt to reconcile these divergent findings proposes that the presence of others increases arousal and strengthens highly dominant responses. If the dominant response is the correct one, performance will be facilitated. If the dominant response is incorrect, performance will be hindered.

Another form of social influence is conformity. Studies indicate that we sometimes conform because we believe the group to be right or to have information we don't possess. Members often conform to group opinions even though they...
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