Reference Group
A group whose presumed views a person uses as a guide for behaviour in a given situation.
What it is
People belong to many groups but usually lean on one at a time, and groups can be classed by membership, contact (primary or secondary) and attraction. On this site it is read alongside Conformity, Aspirational and Dissociative Groups and Social Proof.
In effect
The same person uses co-workers, old friends or a sports team as the reference group depending on the occasion. Marketers use cohesive youth groups in the same way, as a source of shared norms.
What it does not say
It is not the same thing as Conformity, which sits close to it on this site but describes a different part of how people decide. It also does not say that the finding reaches every product, buyer or setting; where this page goes beyond the cited research, the step is an inference and is labelled as one.
Sources
- See the article listed above for the work this page draws on.