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A Familiarization Protocol Facilitates the Participation of Children with ASD in Electrophysiological Research
Published on: July 31, 2017
Informational and Normative Influence on Conformity in Autism
Akiko Kobayashi1,2, Takuya Makino2, Yuka Mizuno2
1School of Economics and Management, Kochi University of Technology, Kochi, Japan.
Summary
Adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) conform similarly to neurotypical adults in seeking social acceptance but show less conformity when seeking accurate information. Individual differences in autism spectrum disorder influence responses to social cues.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Social Behavior
Background:
- Social conformity, adjusting judgments to match others, is crucial for social interaction.
- It's driven by normative (acceptance) and informational (accuracy) motives.
- Understanding social conformity in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is key to characterizing social behavior.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if adults with ASD exhibit reduced social conformity compared to neurotypical (NT) adults.
- To determine if any conformity differences depend on the type of social influence (normative vs. informational).
Main Methods:
- Thirty adults with ASD and 30 NT adults participated.
- A preference rating task assessed normative influence.
- A dot-counting task with rewards assessed informational influence.
Main Results:
- Adults with ASD showed similar conformity to NT adults in the normative task.
- Adults with ASD displayed significantly reduced conformity in the informational task.
- A subgroup of adults with ASD (n=9) showed no conformity in the informational task, impacting accuracy.
Conclusions:
- Adults with ASD are generally as responsive to normative influence as NT adults.
- However, adults with ASD appear less responsive to informational influence, particularly a subset with distinct responses.
- Distinguishing influence types and considering individual differences is vital for understanding social behavior in ASD.
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