Impact of contextual and personal determinants on online social conformity

Abstract

Despite decades of research concerning social conformity and its effects on face-to-face groups, it is yet to be comprehensively investigated in online contexts. In our work, we investigate the impact of contextual determinants (such as majority group size, the number of opposing minorities and their sizes, and the nature of the task) and personal determinants (such as self-confidence, personality and gender) on online social conformity. In order to achieve this, we deployed an online quiz with subjective and objective multiple-choice questions. For each question, participants provided their answer and self-reported confidence. Following this, they were shown a fabricated bar chart that posi..