SOCIAL EFFECTS ON STANDARDS IN GAUGING TASKS

Abstract

This paper reports a study of the effect of social influence on standards in a gauging task in which “ faulty ’ articles had to be rejected. The changes in behaviour which occurred as a result of this social influence seemed to be systematic adaptations of standards rather than uncritical increases in rates of rejection. It is suggested that the operation of social influence in such situations is very similar to the operation of social learning and the assumptions on which such learning is based are discussed.