1.1 - Social Influence (set A - Types Of Conformity)

Question 1

What are the three types of conformity?

Answer 1

• compliance
• internalisation
• identification

Question 2

Explain what conformity is?

Answer 2

Form of social influence that results from exposure to the majority position and leads to compliance with that position result of real or imagined pressure

• person adopts the behaviour,attitudes and values

Question 3

Outline and explain the compliance type of conformity?

Answer 3

• person publicly goes along with views/behaviours expressed by others but continues to privately disagree
• superficial (temporarily) level of conformity - not maintained when not in presence of group
• go along with the group to gain approval and fit in

Question 4

Outline and explain the internalisation type of conformity?

Answer 4

• deepest level of conformity, as its permanent
• person takes on the views expressed by others at a deep, personal level, and they become part of that persons own way of viewing or belief system
• agree publicly and privately

Question 5

Outline and explain the identification type of conformity?

Answer 5

• individual might accept influence because they want to be associated with another person or group - adopt the groups attitudes and behaviours (which make them feel more a part of it)
• elements of internalisation and compliance
• accepts attitudes/behaviour as right and true (internalisation)
• purpose of accepting them is to fit in with group (compliance)

Question 6

Explain why identification may not be a permanent form of compliance?

Answer 6

Accept influence because they want to be associated with a group and adopt the group attitudes to fit in

• temporary as it only lasts while they identify with the group

Question 7

Give the two explanations for conformity?

Answer 7

• normative social influence (NSI)
• informational social influence (ISI)

Question 8

outline the normative social influence (NSI) explanation for conformity?

Answer 8

• conform because you want to be liked or respected by members of the group in order to fit in
• linked with compliance (don’t change private beleif)
• seen in unambiguous situations

Question 9

outline the informational social influence (NSI) explanation for conformity?

Answer 9

• conform because you think other person has superior knowledge/judgment
• linked with internalisation (change private belief)
• seen in ambiguous situations

Question 10

Outline the procedure of Asch study on conformity?

Answer 10

• showed participants two white cards - one card had a ‘standard line’ and the other had three ‘comparison lines’
• One of the lines was always the same lengths and the others were completely different lengths - participant had to say which line was the same
• 123 males involved - each naive participants was tested individually with a group containing
  6-8 confederates
• first few trials - confederates gave right answers but then began to make errors (reduce demand characteristics) - 18 trials in 12 confederates gave the wrong answer

Question 11

Outline the findings from Asch’s study on conformity?

Answer 11

• participants conformed to incorrect answer on 32% of the critical trials
• 75% gave an incorrect answer at least once
• 25% did not conform at all

Asch interviewed participants after and found that the majority conformed (ie gave the wrong answer) to avoid being ridiculed by the group, they remained confident in their judgment privately

Question 12

What can be concluded from Asch study?

Answer 12

• people go along with the views of others for different reasons (may be social influence or internal pressure, causing them to doubt their judgment)
• even in unambiguous situations there may be strong group pressure to conform

Question 13

Outline some of the problems with Asch study on conformity - focus on temporal validity and ethical concerns?

Answer 13

• low temporal validity - during the time period of experiment, America was extremely confomative due to the Cold War (anyone acting abnormal compared population were being arrested and accused of spying) - results would be different if repeated today
• possible ethical concern as it may cause the participants to feel embarrassed (violates protection from harm)
• low ecological validity - does not tell us about conformity in real life

Question 14

Explain why Asch research in conformity has low temporal validity?

Answer 14

during the time period of this experiment, america was extremely conformative due to the Cold War - big fear of being accused of being a spy for the communist state - people were more likely to conform

• this suggests that if the experiment was repeated today the results would be different

Question 15

Give the three variations involving Asch study on conformity?

Answer 15

• group size
• unanimity
• task difficulty

Question 16

Explain the effect of group size on conformity - with focus on Asch study?

Answer 16

• with just 1 confederate conformity was 3%, when there was 2 it was 13% and when there was 3 it was 33% (no significant increase once group reaches 4-5)
• maximum amount of people a group needs to have an affect on an individuals behaviour is 4 to 5 (4 is considered optimum for conformity)

Question 17

Outline support for Asch’s findings on optimum group size for conformity?

Answer 17

Meta analysis of 133 Asch-type studies conducted involving 17 countries - found that conformity peaks with about 4-5 confederates

• reliable as its in line with Asch findings (3-4)
• shows conformity can occur in other countries not just America

Question 18

Explain the effect of unanimity on conformity - with focus on Asch study?

Answer 18

• original study the confederates were all unanimous (gave wrong answer) - conformity rate was 33%
• when 1 confederate deviates from others and gave right answer - conformity dropped to 5%
• another variation involved 1 confederate giving a different incorrect answer - conformity still dropped to 9%

Question 19

Explain the effect of task difficulty on conformity - with focus on Asch study?

Answer 19

• when 3 comparison lines were more similar it was harder to judge correct answer
• led to increase in conformity - explained by informational social influence
• task was more ambiguous which meant participants were trusting others superior knowledge

Question 20

Outline some of the negatives of Asch’s study on conformity - focus on generalisability and application?

Answer 20

• artificial tasks - participants knew they were in a study, may have just gone along for the sake of the experiment - not generalisable to real life conformity
• gender bias - only men from US tested (123 participants) ignores any potential difference between men and women - findings may not be generalisable to women

Question 21

Explain the sheriff investigation as evidence for informational social influence (ISI)?

Answer 21

Was investigating wether people are influenced by others (ambiguous task)

Used auto-kinetic effect where a still point of light in the dark appears to move - participants were shown a still point of light in the dark and estimated how far it moved, first on their own then in groups

Question 22

Explain the findings from the sherif investigation?

Answer 22

• when alone participants developed own stable estimates - when in groups, judgments became closer and closer, until group norm developed

Participants were influenced by estimates of other people - supports ISI

Question 23

Outline evidence that people conform when unsure of the answer?

Answer 23

Lucas et al study - asked students to give answers to maths problems (varying difficulty)

• found greater conformity to incorrect answers that were more difficult (especially those who rated there maths skills as poor)
• shows people conform in situations where they are unsure