Critical Analysis: "The Effects of Information and Social Conformity on Opinion Change"
Question
Give Each Critical Analysis Essay a Unique Title
This document is your technical guide to writing essays for WRTG 391, and it has been formatted to show you what your essay should look like. The content of the three Critical Analysis essays should be inspired by the instructions which follow in this document and by the practice exercises completed during the first class meeting. The two-fold purpose of this Critical Analysis Assignment handout is to provide a basic technical guide to help you set up the essay’s parts and to serve as an overview of the assignment’s required content.
Formatting the document’s appearance is critical; we will follow APA Style guidelines for formatting throughout this class. Use Times New Roman size 12 font, and double space throughout—never more, never less. Word’s pre-set margins should automatically give you the required one-inch margin area. Indent the first line of each new paragraph. Set up your paper’s title page so that it looks like this example or the APA Style Student Sample paper on the OWL@Purdue. You will notice minor differences in the information placed in what I call the ID block (name, date, etc.), but the appearance will be the same. Do note the proper format for the date and pay attention to spacing and page number format requirements. I recommend using Word’s toolbar (Format > Paragraph) to set up spacing and indentation rules. Check the box next to this sentence: “Don’t add space between paragraphs of the same style.” Give your essay an original title and include it both on the title page and at the top of page 2—the beginning of the essay. Make sure pages are numbered. As far as technical issues in the essay itself, be sure that your linguistic intentions as to spelling, usage, sentence meanings, etc., are clear.
Edit your sentences so that they are complete and concise; make sure that each sentence says what you intend it to say. Avoid informal, verbal language. Do not use contractions. Do not use second-person pronouns (“you”). Use the first-person (“I”) only when you have very good reason to do so. I allow—and sometimes encourage—the use of first-person, but it must be used strategically and sparingly. Follow APA Style rules when documenting your use of sources. Remember to make clear distinctions between your words and ideas and your source’s words and ideas. Here is an example of a quotation with a parenthetical citation, which is one of the forms you must use in the essay: Selber (2004) writes that “recent attempts at defining the functional side of computer literacy have often been decidedly uninspired, if not harmful” (p. 473). Here is another way that this quotation might be documented: Requiring students to use computers for academic studies must be a carefully considered and thoughtfully implemented act. Rushing to join the technological wedding of students and mobile technologies, for instance, can be damaging as “recent attempts at defining the functional side of computer literacy have often been decidedly uninspired, if not harmful” (Selber, 2004, p. 473). Notice the features that distinguish my words and ideas and how this process makes clear which statements belong to me and which belong to Selber. Your assignment for the first two Critical Analysis papers will be to write a twopage critique of a scholarly—or peer-reviewed—article (see more below for specific criteria for each of the three Critical Analysis papers). Your essay should begin with an introduction that includes a clearly written thesis statement. I recommend (but do not require) a single-sentence thesis statement positioned at the end of the first paragraph. This thesis statement must provide an effective overview of the essay.
The essay should end with a conclusion that reviews the important statements made in the essay’s body paragraphs. Your introduction must identify the author and title of the source that you are reviewing and provide an evaluative claim about the source. Here is an example of a sentence that makes an evaluative claim about an article: Neff et al.’s (2019) evaluation of the Self-Compassion Scale demonstrates its validity as a total measure and as a measure of the six sub-scores used to measure aspects related to self-compassion. Notice that this sentence does not make a claim about the research topic of selfcompassion, but instead it makes a claim about what the article says. The critical analysis essay’s body should support the evaluative claim made in your thesis statement with specific discussion of the article’s parts. The Critical Analysis essay will be graded according to the rubric that accompanies this assignment handout.
References Neff, K. D., Toth-Kiraly, I., Yarnell, L. M., Arimitsu, K., Castilho, P., Ghorbani, N., Guo, H. X., Hirsch, J. K., Hupfeld, J., Hutz, C. S., Kotsou, I., Lee, W. K., Montero-Marin, J., Sirois, F. M., de Souza, L. K., Svendsen, J. L., Wilkinson, R. B., Mantzios, M. (2019). Examining the factor structure of the Self-Compassion Scale in 20 diverse samples: Support for use of the total score and six subscale scores. Psychological Assessment, 31(1), 27-45. Selber, S. A. (2004). Reimagining the functional side of computer literacy. College Composition and Communication, 55(3), 470-503.
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Solution
Critical Analysis: "The Effects of Information and Social Conformity on Opinion Change"
The study offers a critical analysis of the article titled "The effects of information and social conformity on opinion change" by Mallinson Daniel J. and Hatemi Peter K. The most crucial drivers of behavioral and opinion change are perhaps persuasion and information. However, very little attention has been given to the impact of changing opinions regarding political subjects. The importance of this information is that humans tend to conform to people around them when subjected to social pressures. The findings of classical studies by Muzaref Sherif and Solomon Asch hold water in social media such as Facebook or company boardrooms. The reason provided by Asch to support the idea, which he referred to as compliance, was the desire to be liked by others. Mallinson and Hatemi's (2018) evaluation of social conformity regarding political opinions is that those who seem to conform are politically conservative, neurotic, and conscientious. As such, the study provides a critical analysis of the article based on the information provided for the evaluation.
According to the article, social pressure forces humans to conform to the norms and standards of their peers. The main reason for this is the desire to be alike and liked. In other words, even when does not agree with the beliefs and norms of such groups, they will still comply to get their attention. Besides, others also conform to the opinions of the majority simply because they think such opinions are correct compared to theirs. Several aspects interplay to lead to such phenomena. These aspects are utility maximization, desire for positive relationships, cognitive dissonance, conflict avoidance, and motivated reasoning (Mallinson & Hatemi, 2018). Normative social pressure and informative social pressure are both responsible for opinion changes, especially in politics. Humans exhibit conformity behavior in both cases of private and compliance acceptance. Nonetheless, humans only update their opinions, beliefs, and ideas in private acceptance when new social information is delivered.
The models and theories that have resulted from the works of Sherif and Asch have been applied in wide behavioral domains, including in politics. For instance, the influence of conformity on participatory political behavior and voter turnout has attracted many researchers. Besides, researchers have also developed an interest in the impact of social pressure on ordinary citizens' electoral behavior. However, very little information is available about how social conformity influences political behaviors. Experiments on conformity pressure in the political and ideological identities can show whether the pressure to identify with a non-aligned group could be different when dealing with political topics compared to other topics. Opinions made in the context of politics are often complex, making the measure of social conformity in this regard also difficult.
Several experimental and observational types of research have touched on the different aspects of information delivered socially on people's behaviors. Nonetheless, the backbone of recent studies on the relationship between social influences on political decision-making has been formed by observational research on social networks. A lot of research has demonstrated that a set of political information characterizes the networks formed by citizens. People also tend to rely on trusted family or friends' aggregated information or highly trusted peers to collect information to make political decisions at a lower cost. When they turn to close networks, individuals often accept the private acceptance of important information. Nevertheless, political information does not form the only type of information collected through social networks. The social pressure from such networks induces identity with the desired social beliefs. Members of the group are responsible for providing information concerning their expectations for engaging appropriately in politics.
The importance of understanding in political discourses can further be understood through information regarding the reality and practicality of deliberate democracy. Theorists and researchers have found deliberate processes to legitimize and improve political decisions. However, deliberations do not necessarily lead to consensus. The gist of political deliberations is that the involved people rationally discuss political topics. The discussion provides them with the opportunity of learning from each other hence updating their preferences privately. The reason for this is their desire to be seen to be right.
In conclusion, the study aimed to critically analyze the article by Mallinson and Hatemi which is based on the information and social conformity to political decision changes. According to the article, the existence of information and the power of persuasion is the most critical aspects of political opinion changes. Therefore, the article's information is congruent with Asch and Sherif's notions in their classical experiments on social conformity. Although researchers have made vital steps to study the impacts of social conformity on other areas, little is known about its role in changing political opinions. However, as the article purports, there is a close relationship between the provision of information and social conformity in political debates. The article states that people tend to rely on information from reliable peers, family members, and friends to make decisions at a lower cost. In other words, this seems to save them from the need to search for information from elsewhere. Besides information, social conformity, especially the desire to be liked, is crucial in political decision-making.
References
Mallinson, D. J., & Hatemi, P. K. (2018). The effects of information and social conformity on opinion change. PloS one, 13(5), e0196600.
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