Revisiting Schachter’s Research on Rejection, Deviance, and Communication (1951)

Abstract

We conducted a replication of the original Schachter (1951) deviation-rejection study. Schachter’s groundbreaking demonstration of the deviation-rejection link has captivated social psychologists for decades. The findings and paradigm were so compelling that the deviation-rejection link is often taken for granted and sometimes may be misrepresented ( Berkowitz, 1971 ; Wahrman & Pugh, 1972 ). Because there have only been two direct replications, one of which by the original author, we believed it was important to revisit the original study. We replicated Schachter’s main finding, albeit with a smaller effect size. One intriguing possibility is that we found somewhat weaker reactions to deviates because society may be becoming more tolerant of individuals who hold deviate opinions. We hope that our replication study will inspire other researchers to revisit the deviation-rejection link.