1 Social Influence- Conformity P1 Flashcards
what is conformity?
changing our beliefs and behaviour in response to real or perceived group pressure, to fit the implicit social rules, yielding to majority influence
what are 3 types of conformity?
compliance
identification
internalisation
what is compliance?
-public (privately disagree)
-temporary change
-change behaviour to feel liked and gain social approval
what is identification?
-public
-temporary change
-change behaviour to be liked and be affiliated with a group
what is internalisation?
-public and private
-permanent change
-you believe this is the right way to believe/ behave
which researcher conducted a study about compliance?
Asch (1951)
describe the aim of asch’s research
to investigate the extent to which social pressure from a majority group could affect a person to conform in an unambiguous situation
procedure of asch’s research
where did it take place?
in a controlled, laboratory setting
who were the participants and the groups?
50 male students from Swarthmore college in America
-groups of 8 ppts
(7 confederates, 1 naive ppt)
procedure of asch’s research
how did the study work?
ppts were told it was a visual perception study
- they were asked to select which line was the closest in length to a target line- 3 options
- 18 total trials
- 12 critical trials
what were the results of asch’s research?
- 74% of ppts conformed on at least one critical trial
- 32% was the average number of ppts that conformed to in critical trials
- in control groups, less than 1% gave an incorrect answer
what were the conclusions from asch’s research?
ppts were interviewed after the study which revealed that most knew they were giving incorrect answers
-they conformed to normative social influence
-wanted to fit in
-didn’t want to feel ridiculed
what are 3 variables that can affect conformity?
- group size
- unanimity
- task difficulty
how did group size affect conformity in asch’s study?
he varied the number of confederates giving incorrect answers to up to 16
-found that 3 confederates had the highest conformity rate with 31.8%
-7 confederates had a 37.1% conformity rate
how did unanimity affect conformity in asch’s study?
one confederate gave the correct answer throughout
-this decreased the rate of conformity to 5%
one confederate gave a different incorrect answer to the majority
-this decreased the rate of conformity to 9%
how did task difficulty affect conformity in asch’s study?
the lines became more similar in length, so it was harder to judge differences
-this increased the rate of conformity
why does group size affect conformity?
participants may start to become suspicious if too many people start saying such wrong answers
why does unanimity affect conformity?
if someone else says an incorrect answer/ different answer to the majority, the ppt will feel as though they aren’t alone and not need social approval
why does task difficulty affect conformity?
the more unclear a situation is, the more a participant will look for others for guidance and therefore conform.
ethical issues
whether the procedures used in a study are seen as acceptable and treating the participants in a ‘moral’ way
androcentric
when a study that only really applies to males is assumed to be true of females
ethnocentric
when a study or theory is only really true of one culture, but we presume it is true of others
mundane realism
when a task reflects something that would be a realistic everyday experience people may encounter
-type of ecological validity
temporal validity
when a study or theory can be claimed to be true across different periods of time
internal validity
when a study is accurately measuring what it claims to be studying
what acronym do we used to evaluate studies
GRAVE
what does GRAVE stand for?
Generalisability
Reliability
Application
Validity
Ethical issues
was Asch’s study generalisable?
no, he used a sample of 50 male students from Swathmore College, America
-androcentric and ethnocentric
-low population validity
-study fif not use a mix of cultures or age groups
was Asch’s study reliable?
yes, the research was conducted in a controlled environment
-in a lab there are high levels of control, with standardised procedures and control over EVs
-BUT DEMAND CHARACTERISTICS (artificial env)
-this makes the study replicable as it can be repeated, increasing validity and accuracy of study
does asch’s research have any application?
in court cases, jury’s may conform and therefore put innocent people in prison
was asch’s study valid?
it was high in internal validity
-used standardised procedures and used a control group
-control over EV, can establish cause and effect between the influence of the confederates and the level of conformity measured
-he accurately measured conformity
was asch’s study ethical?
no, he was not truthful about what he was studying to the participants
-thought it was a visual perception test
-the confederates and researcher’s knew
-ppts didn’t give informed consent to the real study
-but demand characteristics would have been presented, and interviewed them all at the end
-it was unethical and they felt their privacy was invaded
what two people proposed explanations of conformity?
Deutsch and Gerard (1955)
what did Deutsch and Gerard propose in 1955?
people conform either to be liked or to be right
what is the technical terms for wanting to be right or liked?
right- informational social influence
liked- normative social influence
explain what normative social influence is?
-wanting to be liked
-go along with group as it is socially rewarding, do not want to face social punishment
-emotional
-relates to compliance and partly identification
-transient (temporary)
explain what informational social influence is?
-wanting to be right
-go along with the group to gain knowledge of what is right- seek guidance from others
-cognitive (requires more thought)
-relates to internalisation
-permanent
what was Jenness 1932 study?
used an ambiguous situation that involved a glass bottle filled with 811 white beans
-participants estimated how many were in the bottle
-divided into groups of 3 and asked
-he found that nearly all ppts changed their original answer once they were on their own
-males changed by 256 beans
-females changed by 382 beans
-shows informational social influence (right)
do explanations of NSI and ISI have validity?
NSI- asch’s study
ISI- Jenness study
YES THEY HAVE VALIDITY
