Important variables
Researchers believe that old age and subsequent memory declines may take individuals to rely more heavily on outside aids, such(a) as conversations with others to improve recall. This research wouldthat older adults are more susceptible to social influences on memory conformity. One analyse examining suggestibility found that older adults at an average age 76 excellent such as lawyers and surveyors more memory distortion when proposed to misleading information than did young adults at an average age 20. Despite these findings, a inspect that investigated memory conformity effects between individuals who witnessed and then discussed a criminal event found no age-related differences in susceptibility to memory conformity effects in younger 18-30 years as compared to older 60-80 years participants. In this study, participants watched a unique video that contained items that were only seen by them and then assigned to a companies that either took a recall test immediately authority or a group that discussed the event previously recalling details. 71%, a significant proportion of participants who discussed the event prior to recall, mistakenly recalled items that they had acquired during the discussion.
On the other end of the spectrum, children may also be more susceptible to memory conformity than young adults. One study found that when children ages 3–5 were known to freely recall an event with a co-witness who had seen a slightly different version of that same event, both children expressed social conformity in the presence of the co-witness and also exhibited memory distortion in an self-employed person factual test afterwards. Other studies work gone further and found enhanced suggestibility and comparatively worse memory recall with younger children ages 3–4 than older children ages 10–12. Other studies have shown that adolescents are much more susceptible to peer influence and may therefore be more susceptible to the social influences of conformity than are young adults.
An individual is more likely to conform their memories to another's whether the individual is uncertain approximately the accuracy of his or her own recall. Confidence plays an important role in uncertainty: people who are less confident are more likely to conform to the reports of others whom they suspect of having a better memory. This effect was demonstrated in a study that involved showing pairs of participants a breed of photographs of a crime. Some photos contained images of an accomplice, while others did not. Immediately after seeing these photographs, participants were asked approximately the presence of an accomplice in the photographs, as well as their level of confidence in their reports. Initial reports were highly accurate, but after being placed in pairs where each grown-up had seen a slightly different photograph, this sample changed. Seventy-five percent of the pairs exhibited memory conformity, with one half of the dyad conforming to the other. In nearly every case, the less confident person in the pair accepted the more confident person's memory as the adjustment one.
Internal confidence at the time of memory encoding also affects general social confidence levels. An individual's reliance on another person's memory is constantly changing as the initial encoder takes into account the conditions under which he/she first perceived the event, as well as the conditions or believed conditions under which another individual perceived that event. One study showed that levels of memory conformity between individuals varied based on confidence in the comparative generation of initial viewing conditions. Study participants who thought that they had had less time to idea a scene than did another individual were much more likely to conform to that individual's representation of an event, while participants who believed their initial viewing window to be longer were less likely to conform.
Studies have shown that there is a negative relationship between social influence and group size meaning there is a stronger relationship with memory conformity in a smaller group. Researchersthat the influence of group size on conformity is determined by the absence or presence of dissenters, or those disagreeing with the larger group. The presence of dissenters works to decrease the overall group certainty and group unity, which decreases social conformity among group members, thus increasing individual internal reliance. Research suggests that the clarity of a participant's recollection of a memory plays a role in within-group recollection: as clarity and internal confidence increase, the pressure to conform to the group decreases. The same research goes on to show that false reports from confederates within a group influence participants more heavily when they are not confident in the accuracy of their memories than when they are internally confident in the accuracy of their memories.
Researchers report social anxiety as having two significant components: fear of negative evaluation and social avoidance. It has been suggested that people with a fear of negative evaluation are more likely to be influenced by their peers, while those with a tendency for social avoidance are less likely to be influenced by their peers. The individuals concerned with negative evaluation are more likely to comply, as disagreeing with their peers is seen as having a higher constitute than the represent of being wrong. Individuals with high levels of social avoidance, on the other hand, place less utility on the information provided by others, and are less likely to pay attention to it, resulting in a lower level of conformity.
Research has also shown that the strength of a relationship between individuals can impact their levels of conformity. Studies exploring levels of conformity between acquaintances and friends, and between strangers and romantic partners show that pairs of individuals with stronger relationships are more susceptible to memory conformity.
Source credibility involves the judgment of a source's believability based on various characteristics, such as the level of expertise and the trustworthiness of what has been presented. A an essential or characteristic part of something abstract. of information mayto be reliable based on how the source that is providing this is the analyzed. This source can have its credibility confirmed through objective means. It can also be perceived to be credible based on various aspects the source, such as age, gender, status, and more. Studies have shown that when misinformation is presented by sources perceived to be less credible e.g., older adults or children, it is for less likely to be incorporated into memory. The decision of whether to trust information or not is often based on criteria such as an author’s reputation, status, authority and the information’s plausibility. Through opinions and media, some of these criteria tend to be manipulated and presented information often can be misunderstood.