4.1.1 TYPES OF CONFORMITY Flashcards
what are the three types of social conformity?
1) internalisation
2) identification
3) compliance
what is conformity?
- also known as majority influence
- yielding to group pressure
- our behaviours and beliefs are influenced by larger groups of people
what is compliance?
- 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
what is identification?
- individuals adjust their behaviour and opinions temporarily to those of the group as membership of the group is desirable
- both public and private
what is internalisation?
- 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
what are two explanations of conformity?
1) informational social influence (ISI)
2) normative social influence (NSI)
what is informational social influence?
- 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
what is normative social influence?
- 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
what evidence supports the ISI?
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
what is an nAffiliator?
- people who are less concerned with being liked are less affected by NSI than those who care more
what were the three variables investigated by Asch (1955)?
- group size
- unanimity
- task difficulty
what relationship did Asch find between group size and conformity?
- 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
what relationship did Asch find between task difficulty and conformity?
- conformity increased with difficulty
how did Asch make the task harder?
- made the stimulus line and the comparison lines more similar in length
what’s the name of a confederate that disagrees with the group?
- a dissenting confederate
what type of ppts did Asch study?
what was the maximum group size he tested?
- 123 American male undergraduates
- 15 confederates
what does unanimity mean?
- when everyone agrees
what are some ecological validity issues with Asch’s study?
- 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
what are some ethical issues with Asch’s study?
- 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
what are the issues with temporal validity in Asch’s study?
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
what a strength regarding temporal validity of Asch’s study?
- subsequent study on youths on probation
-> youths = ppts
-> officers = confederates - similar levels of conformity were found to Asch in the 1950s
what are individual variables?
- qualities of an individual that influence their level of conformity
- they can interact with situational variables
-> gender
-> mood
-> culture
what is said about gender on levels of conformity?
- 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
what is the relationship between mood and conformity?
- 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
what’s the relationship between culture and conformity?
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%
what was the procedure of Asch’s study?
- 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
