The sherif experiment: group norms and the autokinetic effect

Muzafer Sherif’s study of the autokinetic effect is a classic experiment in social psychology that powerfully illustrates how group norms are formed and internalized in situations of ambiguity, leading to conformity even when there is no objectively correct answer.

The Autokinetic Effect Phenomenon

The autokinetic effect is an optical illusion in which a static point of light projected into a completely dark room appears to move.

This apparent movement is subjective and varies from person to person, since there is no external frame of reference to judge its actual displacement (which is zero).

Sherif used this ambiguous situation to study how people develop a social frame of reference.

Experimental Design and Phases

In the first phase of the experiment, participants were asked to individually estimate how far the point of light moved.

Each person developed a range of estimates personal and relatively stable.

In a second phase, participants were gathered into small groups and asked to make the same estimates, but this time out loud, so that each group member could hear the estimates of the others.

Finally, in a third phase, participants made the estimates again individually.

Results and Implications

The results showed that, when participants made the estimates as a group (second phase), their individual judgments tended to converge toward a group norm or average.

Those who had initially estimated large movements began to give smaller estimates, and those who had estimated small movements began to give larger estimates, until the group reached an implicit consensus.

Most significantly, in the third phase, when participants made the estimates again individually, they maintained the group norm that had been established in the collective session, even for a week or even a year