Experimental analog of conformity in social media using single-subject design I: Increasing the task complexity and decreasing the authority effect

Social conformity has been pointed as related to drastic changes in contemporary social dynamics, particularly the polarization seen on social media. While experimental studies in Social Psychology established the phenomenon, behavior-analytic research using single-subject designs has begun to explore the role of direct reinforcement of conformity. This study aimed to investigate the effects of reinforcing majority and minority conformity, replicating and extending a previous experiment and introducing three modifications to better simulate online environments: increasing the number of response alternatives, using peer experimenters to reduce authority effects, and adding a point system to the verbal feedback. Four participants were exposed to single-subject reversal designs. In a group setting with four confederates, they performed a perceptual judgment task involving ambiguous monochromatic images. In experimental conditions, experimenter feedback and points were contingently delivered to either agreement with the group majority (three confederates) or the minority (one confederate) depending on the condition. The results demonstrated that reinforcement effectively controlled both conformity types of conformity. However, majority conformity proved to be a more potent. Across participants, the mean percentage of majority conformity in the reinforcement condition (67.1%) was significantly higher than that of minority conformity (53.4%). Furthermore, the order of conditions was critical; initial exposure to contingencies that reinforced majority conformity made it more difficult for participants to later adjust to reinforcement of minority conformity. This has significant implications for understanding how social media algorithms, which often amplify popular content, can entrench majority opinions. The addition of a point system may have increased the reinforcement magnitude, potentially explaining the higher rates of minority conformity compared to previous research, though the dominance of majority conformity persisted.