METHOD AND DEVICE FOR MEASURING CONFORMITY Russian patent published in 2003 - IPC

FIELD: medicine. SUBSTANCE: method involves giving headphones to each participant. The same pairs of sounds are sent to all but one participant using the device. The latter one is under test at the given time moment. He receives objectively distinguishable sounds when compared to the rest of the participant group. Competitive estimations of sound pitch given by the testee and other participants reflect real differences between sounds. The experiment participants do not suspect but observe responses of each other with respect to sound pair perception and keep natural behavior mode in the cases of non-conforming stimulus estimations in the course of the experiment. Social pressure exerted upon conclusions drawn by particular participant is measured. Multiple action of sounds is repeated with the testee changed. All participants occur to be testee many times and in various succession order. Data for calculating the number of testee compliances to group suggestions are recorded. The total number of testee responses and total testee response time are determined. The data are used for calculating mean time of testee nonconformity responses and mean time of testee conformity responses and for determining psychological component of conformity level. The device has testee panel, physiological information unit, unit for producing integral conformity estimation, system bus interface unit and port address decoder. The number of testee panels is determined by the number of experiment participants. EFFECT: high degree of reliability and validity of the device and method. 11 cl, 2 tbl