after his friend said a new movie was the funniest he had seen in years, willard found himself laughing throughout the viewing, even though the movie was not very funny. what concept is willard demonstrating?

Willard is demonstrating the concept of normative social influence , a type of conformity where a person changes their behavior or expressed opinion to be liked or accepted by others, even if they privately disagree. In this case, after his friend said the movie was the funniest he had seen in years, Willard found himself laughing throughout the viewing despite not finding the movie very funny. This shows he was influenced by the desire to fit in or be accepted by his friend or social group, rather than his own genuine reaction to the movie