Informative Social Influence

Definition

Informative social influence is a psychological phenomenon where people assume the actions of others in an attempt to reflect correct behavior for a given situation.

Analogy

Imagine you're at a fancy dinner party for the first time and you're unsure about which fork to use. You look around and see everyone else using the smaller fork for their salad, so you follow suit. That's informative social influence - you're relying on others' behavior to guide your own because they seem more knowledgeable about the situation.

Related terms

Conformity: The act of matching attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors to group norms or standards.

Normative Social Influence: A type of social influence that leads to conformity. It's when people behave in certain ways to be accepted by others rather than because they believe it's right.

Social Facilitation: The tendency for individuals to perform differently when in the mere presence of others. This includes performing better on simple tasks and worse on complex tasks.