ABSTRACT

During social interactions, people look into each other’s eyes to grasp emotional signals. Accordingly, prior research has shown that the eyes reveal social messages that influence interpersonal communication. Here, we tested whether variations in a subtle eye signal – pupil size – influence people’s conforming behavior. Participants performed an estimation task in light of the estimation provided by another individual whose pupil size had been manipulated. The distance between the two estimations was taken as an index of spontaneous conformity. Results revealed that participants conformed more strongly toward individuals with large pupils than toward individuals with small or medium pupils. These findings suggest that pupil size is a source of social influence that impacts upon spontaneous interpersonal conducts.

摘要

在社交互动中，人们注视彼此的眼睛以把握情感信号。因此，先前的研究表明，眼睛揭示出影响人际交往的社交信息。在这里，我们测试了微妙的眼睛信号（瞳孔大小）的变化是否会影响人们的顺从行为。参与者根据另一名瞳孔大小已被操纵的个人提供的估计执行估计任务。两次估计之间的距离被视为自发一致性的指标。结果显示，与小学生或中小学生相比，参与者对大学生的依从性更强。这些发现表明，学生人数的大小是社会影响力的源泉，会影响自发的人际交往行为。