4.1.1 TYPES OF CONFORMITY

Question 1

what are the three types of social conformity?

Answer 1

1) internalisation

2) identification

3) compliance

Question 2

what is conformity?

Answer 2

• also known as majority influence
• yielding to group pressure
• our behaviours and beliefs are influenced by larger groups of people

Question 3

what is compliance?

Answer 3

• a person goes along with other people’s behaviour / attitudes
  -> doesn’t believe them to be correct
• comply publicly but their private opinion doesn’t change
• they go along with beliefs to keep the peace and gain approval
• temporary when in the presence of the group

Question 4

what is identification?

Answer 4

• individuals adjust their behaviour and opinions temporarily to those of the group as membership of the group is desirable
• both public and private

Question 5

what is internalisation?

Answer 5

• the individual accepts the group view AND believes that view that to be correct
• conforming to other people’s beliefs publicly and privately in the genuine belief they’re correct
• permanent

Question 6

what are two explanations of conformity?

Answer 6

1) informational social influence (ISI)

2) normative social influence (NSI)

Question 7

what is informational social influence?

Answer 7

• humans have a need for certainty (need to be right)
• occurs when uncertain and they look to others in group
• happens in unfamiliar situations or ambiguous situations
• can also occur in crisis situations -> decision has to be made quickly and the group is assumed to be correct
• individual accepts group view because they want to be right
• involves internalisation

Question 8

what is normative social influence?

Answer 8

• humans have a need to be liked / social groups
• agreeing with the majority group view because we want to be liked / accepted / gain social approval
• occurs when you fear rejection form the group / with strangers
  -> also occurs when individual is uncertain about their beliefs and looks to someone who may be better informed
• involves compliance

Question 9

what evidence supports the ISI?

Answer 9

JENNESS (1932)
- used 101 psychology students
- conducted this study with a jar of white beans
- individual estimates moved towards the estimates of others
- shows you genuinely (privately) believed these estimates
- demonstrates internalisation

LUCAS ET AL (2006)
- pots conformed more when the maths problems were difficult compared to when they were easier
- because students were ambiguous about the answer and not wanting to appear wrong

Question 10

what is an nAffiliator?

Answer 10

• people who are less concerned with being liked are less affected by NSI than those who care more

Question 11

what were the three variables investigated by Asch (1955)?

Answer 11

• group size
• unanimity
• task difficulty

Question 12

what relationship did Asch find between group size and conformity?

Answer 12

• the 3 confederates conformity to the wrong answer rose by 31.8%
• addition of further confederates made little differences
• therefore suggesting small majority isn’t sufficient for influence to be exerted out
  -> no need for a majority of more than 3

Question 13

what relationship did Asch find between task difficulty and conformity?

Answer 13

• conformity increased with difficulty

Question 14

how did Asch make the task harder?

Answer 14

• made the stimulus line and the comparison lines more similar in length

Question 15

what’s the name of a confederate that disagrees with the group?

Answer 15

• a dissenting confederate

Question 16

what type of ppts did Asch study?
what was the maximum group size he tested?

Answer 16

• 123 American male undergraduates
• 15 confederates

Question 17

what does unanimity mean?

Answer 17

• when everyone agrees

Question 18

what are some ecological validity issues with Asch’s study?

Answer 18

• was a lab study
• everyone knew they were being studied
• everyone in the room is a stranger
  -> this isn’t realistic to how you conform in real life
• the task is meaningless
  -> in real life you’re not comparing lines

Question 19

what are some ethical issues with Asch’s study?

Answer 19

• deception (confederate)
  -> necessary because otherwise the experiment doesn’t work
• protection from harm
  -> they may feel embarrassed
• shouldn’t leave in a worse state than entering
  -> debrief

Question 20

what are the issues with temporal validity in Asch’s study?

Answer 20

McCarthyism
- the 1950s USA was in a strong anti-Communist period
- ppl were scared to go against the majority
- were more likely to conform

Perrin and Spencer (1980)
- repeated Asch’s study in the UK
- in initial study they obtained only 1 conforming response out of over 390 trials

Question 21

what a strength regarding temporal validity of Asch’s study?

Answer 21

• subsequent study on youths on probation
  -> youths = ppts
  -> officers = confederates
• similar levels of conformity were found to Asch in the 1950s

Question 22

what are individual variables?

Answer 22

• qualities of an individual that influence their level of conformity
• they can interact with situational variables
  -> gender
  -> mood
  -> culture

Question 23

what is said about gender on levels of conformity?

Answer 23

• women conform more readily than men
• socialised into more submissive roles
• male gender roles demand independence
• possibly evolutionary -> women are more nurturing

Eagly et al (1981)
- females focus on quality of relationship
- more normative social influence

Jenness (1932)
- women conformed more than men

Question 24

what is the relationship between mood and conformity?

Answer 24

• humans conform more in a good mood
• when happy, we’re more amenable to agreeing with others
• we also conform more when moving from a fearful to relaxed mood

Tong et al. (2008)
- ppts to conform to wrong answers on maths questions given by confederates when in a positive rather than neutral mood

Question 25

what’s the relationship between culture and conformity?

Answer 25

Perrin and Spencer (1980)
- conformity level of 0.25% in Yorkshire science students
-> suggesting low conformity in Britain
- however, scientists should be independent thinkers

Smith and Bond (1993)
- average conformity rate in collectivist cultures of 25-58%
- individualistic cultures show only 14-39%

Question 26

what was the procedure of Asch’s study?

Answer 26

• ppts were tested in groups of 6 to 8
• each group was presented with a standard line and three comparison lines
• in each group there was one 1 genuine ppt
  -> the remaining were confederates
• the genuine ppt was seated 2nd to last and didn’t know the other ppts were fake ppts
• the fake confederate ppts all gave the same incorrect answer
• confederates were told to give the incorrect answer on 12/18 trials