Can Accountability Produce Independence? Goals as Determinants of the Impact of Accountability on Conformity

People routinely confront the social pressure of being accountable to audiences whose preferences are known. Prior research indicates that these conditions create conformity, which often leads to sub par decision making. The authors hypothesized that conformity is the usual consequence of accountability when people are motivated to get along with others, but independence can occur when accountable people are motivated to make accurate decisions. Participants went through a priming procedure to focus them on the goal of compatibility or accuracy and then worked on a business decision task. They learned that another member of their group advocated a specific (actually sub par) solution and expected to explain their own decision to this person or not (accountable vs. unaccountable condition). The predicted interaction revealed that those who were accountable and had an accuracy goal displayed independence and made higher quality decisions than those in the other conditions, who displayed a conformity effect.

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