| Social psychology may offer new approaches to better understand how individuals form opinions and make decisions about sex, taking into account that even personal choices may be a consequence of social dynamics. The present experiment evaluated the utility of two social psychological theories, pluralistic ignorance and dynamic social impact, to investigate the process by which college students form attitudes and make decisions regarding sex. Two levels of theoretically-driven intervention methods, corrective information regarding actual group norms and corrective information combined with focus group participation, were also evaluated in comparison to a control group. Two-hundred and forty-six undergraduate college students living in one residence hall on campus completed surveys assessing their sexual practices and beliefs and their perception of peers' behavior and opinions at the beginning and conclusion of an academic semester. Pluralistic ignorance was clearly demonstrated for most variables; students estimated that "typical" peers were more permissive and more apt to engage in sex risk behaviors than themselves. Misperception of group norms did not necessarily result in personal attitude or behavior change, however. Self-organization was also demonstrated within the residence hall with proximity contributing to clustering of similar attitudes and behaviors, presumably the result of increased social interaction among those living near one another. Students who received either of the two levels of intervention became more accurate in terms of their perceptions of group norms and demonstrated less pluralistic ignorance at the end of the semester than those in the control group, but the two intervention groups did not differ significantly from one another. Results indicated, however, that the addition of a focus group discussion may be necessary to effect personal beliefs and decisions. Limitations of the experiment and future directions for research are discussed. The area of social psychology has the potential to suggest innovative models for investigating individual attitudes and behaviors, acknowledging that even very personal choices are influenced by social dynamics. |
