Anonymity and the Resolution of Conflicting Pressures from the Experimenter and from Peers

Summary

American female introductory psychology students (N = 101) participated in a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design intended to create conflicting social pressures of experimenter demand and group counterpressure. It was hypothesized that subjects would respond to experimenter demand to be harshly critical of the ideas of a confederate peer except in the condition in which subjects were under high group counterpressure and not protected from peer evaluation by anonymity. The triple interaction between the three factors (level of demand, group counterpressure, and anonymity) gave clear support for this hypothesis. The results are discussed in terms of explaining the part played by anonymity in the resolution of conflicting social pressures, and reference is made to the deindividuation literature.