Final Paper

Running head: SOCIAL MEDIA AND CONSENSUS 1

Social Media and Consensus

Kaytlin De Los Santos

Florida International University

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Social Media and Consensus

Introduction

The consumption of social media indisputably forms a significant part of modern life and

correspondingly on many organizations. To this effect, it has been in contention, that social

media has the power to promote individualized thinking as opposed to sanitized group thinking

(Rom & Conway, 2018). This paper in a bid to understand the Facebook consensus will delve

into an analysis of five articles which seek to explain the proposed hypothesis. It is prudent to

note that the articles shall focus on providing key summaries with regard to the hypotheses, the

findings of the empirical studies as well as justification for these articles in support of the

proposed hypotheses.

Moral Conformity in Online Interactions

According to Asch (1956), there is a higher chance of conformity to blatant and

sometimes erroneous opinions held by the majority regardless of whether the task is simple

perceptual or hard. Research has proven that the development of online spaces has brought about

alterations with regard to body language as well as communication norms and ways in which

persuasive influence is exerted (Bargh & McKenna, 2004). Kelly et al. (2017) conducted two

studies which were aimed at addressing the issue of moral conformity within online interactions.

The first study sought to identify the participants’ sensitivity towards moral edicts made by

anonymous people and directed towards ethical dilemmas.

The study recruited participants via the virtual labor market, Amazon Mechanical Turk.

They were then directed to Qualtrics where they concluded a virtual survey. Each of the

participants was required to rate one of two scenarios presented to them. Scenario A presented a

case of a family eating their dead pet dog. Scenario B, on the other hand, presented passengers

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who were on the verge of sinking on a lifeboat and they sacrificed a passenger who was not only

injured but also overweight (Kelly et al. 2017). It is prudent to note that this specific study

sought to understand the degree of conformity and how it varies when a scenario involves harm

violations in contrast to purity violations. The results of these study revealed that what was

needed to induce conformity in moral judgements was the provision of statistical evidence

showing the response of other participants.

The second study, having established conformity relationship to manipulations that only

contain statistical information, wanted to understand how differing arguments and particularly

emotional and rational arguments, were effective in influencing moral judgments. This study also

recruited participants from the same site used in the first study and were allowed to rate the two

scenarios used in the first study (Kelly et al. 2017). The results provided that when participants

were provided with both rational or emotions justifications, they tended to conform to rational

justifications rather than emotional justifications. It is prudent to note that this was different from

the hypotheses of the study that posited that social media consensus is influenced by emotions.

Computers in Human Behavior

The hypotheses of the Facebook Consensus theorize that there is greater influence to

conformity within social media platforms. In a study conducted by Jagatic et al. (2007), seventy-

two participants who took part in the study revealed that they trusted links that were sent to them

by friends regardless of the fact that they may contain phishing attempts. This study begs the

question of the factors that influence social conformity with regard to social norms.

Undisputedly, social customs are in online environs, but the perceptions of consumers to the

norms are subject to variation depending on the platforms, the anonymity as well as presence of

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social ties between the contacts. The study, therefore, seeks to create a separation between social

influence that is norm-oriented and those that are information-oriented.

This study structure in analyzing the effect of anonymity on conformity, the participants

performed the experiment in full or partial anonymity in order to manipulate the anonymity

levels (Perfumi et al. 2019). The subjects of the study performed the experiments alone or with

other participants but notably, the subjects who performed the experiment in group were not

allowed interactions with other subjects. To manipulate ambiguity, the study developed new

tasks, cultural and apperceptive. The subjects were placed under pressure directly and the

majority pressure was set to move towards answers considered to be entropic.

This study revealed that the consequence of normative impact in situations where social

distinctiveness is not fortified is almost non-existent. There was also the fact that anonymity

impacted negatively saliency if groups. Given that the subjects of the study could not

communicate with each other and similarly could not share any kind of information, concerning

the group members also built on anonymity (Perfumi et al. 2019). Concerning obtaining of

information, two contextual characteristics, full anonymity, and corporeal segregation can have a

positive effect on conformism. Conversely, if these characteristics are combined, then their effect

on conformity is negative.

They Came, They Liked, They Commented: Social Influence on Facebook News Channels

Social Networking sites have taken over the news industry and there has been a drastic

decrease in the circulation of newspapers. The news organizations have consequently been

forced to reach their audience via online platforms, and importantly, Facebook, has emerged as

an instrumental channel for passing information. Studies have revealed that social networking is

not the only reason why people use Facebook, sourcing information on politics as well as

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contemporary affairs is among the top reasons why people use Facebook (Winter et al. 2015). It

is prudent to note that Facebook places much emphasis on the reaction of readers, in spite of the

fact that there are provisions for comments and likes. This specific study sought to understand

the effect of the reactions of different users in the news channels operating on Facebook as well

as the psychological mechanisms that underlie processing of information.

The study was conducted by showing participants a screenshot of a reputable news

magazine which presented a short summary of a story. The participants were later allowed to

read the complete version of the story. The topic under study was touching on the legalization of

Marijuana, this was because the study sought to ensure that the topic was moderately relevant to

the readers and also it could not bring about strong as well as polarized attitudes previously held

by the participants (Winter et al. 2015). The study revealed that statements that were in

congruence with the article and which were published by news sources that were renowned did

not influence persuasive effects with regard to the article. On the issue of the quality relating to

comments of readers, there was the consistency of argumentative comments. Notably, these

comments did not have any influence on the perception as held by the public.

Morality and Conformity: The Asch Paradigm Applied to Moral Decisions

Kantian theory on moral judgment hypothesized that moral judgment is simply the

outcomes of conscious deliberations that are based on innate moral rules. This was the position

as held before a recent study. The recent studies reveal that the judgment passed by people on

actions are skewed towards thinking the actions as morally wrong if disgust is the primary

feeling the person feels before making a moral judgment (Kundu & Cummins, 2013). This study

sought to investigate the impact that social consensus has on moral decision making. The study

asked the participants to offer moral judgment on a series of dilemmatic issues. There were

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thirty-three participants where seventeen of them were in control conditions while the rest were

in experimental conditions. Twelve dilemmatic issues were selected from materials that were

used by Greene et al. (2008).

The outcomes extant, in this case, showed that there was a sturdy conformism effect and

this implied that ethical decision making was predisposed greatly by social consensus. This

should be understood from the fact that the materials used along with three magnitudes namely,

use of personal force, permissible judgments, as well as whether the mischief exacted were

deliberate or a side consequence of taken action (Kundu & Cummins, 2013). Conformity in the

case of these studies was considered to be irrational in the case that one believed that social

consensus should be given inconsiderable weight when it comes to decision making when

compared to the information and beliefs as held by different persons.

The Strategic Moral Self: Self-Presentation shapes Moral dilemma Judgments

In this study by Rom & Conway (2018), seven studies were conducted and they revealed

that meta-perceptions are accurately held by people regarding dilemma decisions. The study

concluded that the participants of the study did hold a view of an accurate meta-insight with

regard to how meta-insight into how earnest and proficient their verdicts of the dilemmatic issues

would portray them to others. It is prudent to note that amidst the dilemmatic wars people tend

to select decisions that will portray them to appear competent at the inescapable cost of warmth.

Conclusion

These studies present interesting concepts with regard to social consensus. Some of the

consensuses arrived at, are motivated by contextual factors such as anonymity and ambiguity.

While the urge to conform to general consensus, is incessantly on the rise, some of the

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contributing factors are issues that have been portrayed by Asch in the theory that seeks to

explain moral judgment.

References

Kelly, M., Ngo, L., Chituc, V., Huettel, S., & Sinnott-Armstrong, W. (2017). Moral conformity

in online interactions: rational justifications increase influence of peer opinions on moral

judgments. Social Influence, 12(2-3), 57–68. doi: 10.1080/15534510.2017.1323007

Perfumi, S. C., Bagnoli, F., Caudek, C., & Guazzini, A. (2019). Deindividuation effects on

normative and informational social influence within computer-mediated-

communication. Computers in Human Behavior, 92, 230–237. doi:

10.1016/j.chb.2018.11.017

Rom, S. C., & Conway, P. (2018). The strategic moral self: Self-presentation shapes moral

dilemma judgments. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 74, 24–37. doi:

10.1016/j.jesp.2017.08.003

Winter, S., Brückner, C., & Krämer, N. C. (2015). They Came, They Liked, They Commented:

Social Influence on Facebook News Channels. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social

Networking, 18(8), 431–436. doi: 10.1089/cyber.2015.0005

Kundu, P., & Cummins, D. D. (2013). Morality and conformity: The Asch paradigm applied to

moral decisions. Social Influence, 8(4), 268–279. doi: 10.1080/15534510.2012.727767