The effects of non-conformity on heart rate variability

Project start and end date: Summer 2023 / Winter 2023/24 (ongoing)

Project title: The effects of non-conformity on heart rate variability

Candidates looked for: BA or MA students (max 2 per semester)

Short summary of the project:

The seminal studies by Solomon Ash demonstrated our strong motivation wanting to conform to the behavior of our peers. Since then, many studies and paradigms have replicated the basic finding, in various conditions and experimental settings. To the best of our knowledge, few projects have incorporated physiological measures of the basic effect, specifically on the synchronization of heart-rate variability (HRV) in the participants on the group experiment. In implementing a form of conformity design while adding ECG sensors to all participants, the current project aims to explore the physiological aspects of conformity.

Research question: In general, we want to investigate whether conformity behavior (or deviating from conformity) affects HRV synchrony.

Hypotheses:

1. When conforming with others, a significant HRV synchronisation can be observed.

2. When demonstrating non-conforming behavior, a significant decline in HRV synchronisation can be observed.

Especially interesting here will be the observation of the timeline, i.e. can the decrease in synchronisation be observed before the non-conforming behavior occurs?

Operationalisation: To be determined, also in conjunction with the BA or MA candidates.

Study population (Who? How many?): Number to be determined depending on the exact research questions, population most likely students recruited from campus

Inclusion criteria: Young, healthy

Exclusion criteria: No brain damage or cardiovascular disorder

Independent Variable(s): A paradigm to induce conforming / non-conforming behavior, to be determined

Dependent Variable(s): ECG signal and the derived synchronisation signals among the group members

Timeline

- Planning: 2 Weeks

- Recruitment: ongoing for four weeks starting in April or October

- Begin data acquisition: April / November

- Duration and number of testing sessions: each session lasts about 1 hour, number of sessions depend on final research question

- End of data acquisition: about four weeks after begin

- Processing of data: about 2 weeks

- Analysis of data: about 2 weeks

- Thesis writing: about 6 weeks

Required competencies: 

- Interest in heart rate variability

- basic knowledge of social psychology experiments in the context of conformity

- basic computer skills to operate ECG software

- basic knowledge of R

- willingness to work in a team

For further information please contact jens.pruessner@uni-konstanz.de​​​​​​