Differences in Susceptibility to Influence in Mexican American and Anglo Females

Abstract

To further evaluate the hypothesis of relatively greater susceptibility of influence in Mexican Americans, 3OAnglo and 30 Mexican American females were given the task of responding to a select set of Rorschach cards together with eitheranAnglo ora Mexican American confederate. All subjects observed the card and wrote down "three best responses," after which they showed each other their responses. Then subjects were asked to once more give two responses and "perhaps" include something that they had not seen in their original observation Although Mexican Americans were not more generally susceptible to influence, they were more susceptible to influence when placed with an Anglo confederate. The findings throw further doubt on the general hypothesis of greater Mexican American susceptibility to influence. However, the results are consistent with the hypothesis of a tendency to greater conformity in members of a less powerful group when paired with members from a more dominant segment of society.

Wives, Husbands, and Hidden Power in Marriage

“…One clever psychological experiment sheds light on the role of differential power in producing conformity. Roll, McClelland, and Abel (1996) asked pairs of White and Mexican American women to record their top three responses to inkblots and to share their answers with their partners. After this, they asked each partner to add two more responses to their original list.…”

Chicanas/os and Mental Health Services

“…Exner (1993), in outlining the demography of the 700 adults he used as a "non-patient" normative sample for the Rorschach, indicated that only 43 of these individuals were Latina/o; again, it is unclear how many of these people were specifically Chicanas/os. Those few investigations that do exist specifically regarding Chicanas/os and the Rorschach possess a widely divergent set of research foci with no discernible program of research being conducted (e.g., Roll, McClelland, & Abel, 1996;Tori, 1989). Certain scholars (e.g., Costantino, Flanagan, & Malgady, 1995), however, have argued that the Exner scoring system has served to reduce the potential for cultural bias in this test, and because the Rorschach does not depend on an examinee's reading ability, it may be a more useful clinical assessment tool.…”