7. Conformity Flashcards
What is conformity?
A change in behavior due to the real or imagined influence of others
How is conformity viewed differently in individualistic vs collectivist cultures? What is the truth about conformity?
- Individualistic cultures view conformity negatively because they emphasize being independent, thinking for yourself, and standing up for yourself
- Collectivist cultures view conformity as “cooperation” towards a collective goal - it’s necessary to keep social harmony
- Conformity is neither positive nor negative, it just is. It’s a natural behavior
Evolutionary perspective of conformity
Based on animal studies, conformity may be based on evolution as a survival trait
What are the two main reasons for conforming?
- Informational social influence
- Normative social influence
Explain informational social influence
- The need to know what’s “right”
- Conforming because we believe that others’ interpretation of an ambiguous situation is more correct than our own; we don’t have enough information pertaining to what to do
- We conform because we see others as a source of information to guide our behavior
- Can bring about private acceptance or public compliance
Explain the difference between private acceptance and public compliance
- Private acceptance: Conforming to other people’s behavior out of a genuine belief that what they are doing or saying is right. We’ve changed our attitudes about it.
- Public compliance: Conforming to other people’s behavior publicly, without necessarily believing in what they are doing or saying. We’re just doing it because they’re doing it.
When do people conform to information social influence?
- Ambiguous or confusing situations
- Crisis situations; when we need a quick response. People are more likely to conform when the task is deemed as very important or crucial.
- When other people are experts (correctly or incorrectly)
What does resisting informational social influence mean?
- Conformity influences how people see reality - accepting other people’s interpretation means seeing the world as they do. Rejecting other people’s interpretation means viewing the world differently from them.
- It’s important to carefully consider if another person’s interpretation of a situation is more legitimate than your own. We need to use rational problem solving
Explain normative social influence
- The need to be accepted
- Conforming to be liked and accepted by others
- Conforming to avoid being ridiculed, punished or rejected by one’s group
- Results in public compliance, but not necessarily in private acceptance. We might know the right thing to do, but we act in a way that makes us accepted by other. Can cause a great deal of distress, of cognitive dissonance
- Related to sociometer theory (acceptance/rejection)
- Related to social comparison theory
What are social norms?
- Implicit or explicit rules a group has for the acceptable behaviors, values, and beliefs for its members
- They play an important role in driving and maintaining conformity; conformity in the sense that we just want to maintain something, not engage in conflict
Explain Asch Line Judgement studies
- Question: What happens when we are with a group of strangers who are obviously wrong? Will we still conform? Asch believed that when a situation was completely unambiguous, people would act like rational, objective problem solvers.
- Method: Experimenter asks you to announce which of the three comparison lines is closest in length to the standard line. Confederates give wrong answer for 12/18 trials.
- Results: 76% of participants conformed by giving the wrong answer on at least one trial. On average, participants conformed in 1/3 of the trials
- Implications: People don’t want to risk social disapproval, even from strangers (normative social influence)
- ## Conformity dropped dropped dramatically when participants were allowed to write their answers on a piece of paper (anonymity)
What can break normative social influence?
- Breaking unanimity (allyship)
- Anonymity (ex: in Asch experiment, writing answer on piece of paper instead)
Explain social impact theory
- Social impact theory predicts that the likelihood of conforming to social influence depends on group strength, immediacy and number
- Strength: how important the group is to you
- Immediacy: how close the group is to you in time and space (physical proximity)
- Number: how many people are in the group
- Conformity will increase when strength and immediacy increase
- Conformity will increase as the group number does, but only up to a point
When are we most likely to conform?
When the group is unanimous
- Just one other person not in agreement with the group is enough to decrease conformity
What are the consequences of normative social influence?
- Can be used for good (ex: increasing charitable donations, increasing pro-environmental behaviors)
- Social groups will bring a nonconformist into line by poor treatment and/or punishment
How can we resist inappropriate normative social influence?
- Becoming aware of what socials norms are operating
- Finding an ally who thinks the way we do
- Gathering idiosyncrasy credits; the credits a person earns over time by confomring to the norms of a group in the past
Explain minority influence
- Occurs when a minority of group members influences the bahvior or beliefs of the majority
- To do so, minority group members must present their views consistently (can be tricky, majority group will try to find times when they haven’t been consistent)
- Minorities influence the majority via informational social influence; leads to private acceptance. Idea of expertise
Explain anticonformity
- The act of going against the behaviors of a specific group. Considered as deliberate defiance of a group’s decision
- Defers from independence, in that decision to be anticonformist is still dependent on the larger group’s behavior; anticonformity is a form of conformity
- Possibily explained by psychological reactance
- More observable in indivudualistic cultures than collectivist ones
Define compliance
- A change in behavior in response to a direct request
- No change in attitude!!
All compliance techniques
- Door-in-the-face
- Foot-in-the-door
- Lowballing
- “Free gifts” & reciprocity
- Social proof
- “And that’s not all”
- The Sunk Cost trap
- Scarcity
- Psychological reactance
Door-in-the-face
- First presenting a large request, which they’re expected to refuse. Then they’re presented with a smaller, more reasonable request, to which is hoped they will accept
- Based on reciprocity norm
Foot-in-the-door
- First presenting a smaller request, which they’re expected to accept. Then they’re presented with a larger request, to which is hoped they will also accept. - - Key is that the requests have to be incremental.
- This technique triggers a change in self-perception (self-image of someone who helps others, you feel bad otherwise)
Lowballing
Inducing a customer to agree to purchase a product at a very low cost, then raising the price. The customer will often still make the purchase because: - the decision seems irrevocable; we’re more likely to say yes because we’ve already committed to so much
- they want to avoid disappointment
- the new price is only slightly higher (incremental)
Reciprocity
- We feel compelled to repay what another person has given us. Through free gifts, we can become more compelled to support a request or become a frequent customer
- Ex: loyalty cards
Social proof
Related to social impact theory
- Idea that when we’re given proof that other people view this in a specific way, we’re more likely to act in a way that conforms
- The greater the consensus, the greater it’ll affect our behavior. It validates our behavior
And that’s not all
- We present an offer, we allow the person to think about the offer, then we offer something a little better.
- It’s a variation of the door-in-the-face technique, except the first offer is already reasonable; the second is like a cherry-on-top
Scarcity
The degree to which something is limited or may become unavailable
- Doesn’t only apply to tangible objects (ex: FOMO, missing an opportunity)
Psychological reactance
The tendency to assert our freedom when we feel others are attempting to control us
Sunk Cost Trap
- If we’re heavily invested in something, we’ll continue the behavior. Otherwise, we’ll feel like we lost something; I’ve already committed to so much, I might as well
- Extreme form of lowballing
What is obedience?
Obedience is conformity in response to the commands of an authority figure (anyone whom we believe has some sort of power over us)
- Under strong social pressure, individuals will conform to the authority, even when this means doing something immoral
Explain Milgram’s experiment
Question: To what extent will people obey an authority figure, even if it means harming another person?
Hypothesis: less than 1% of participants would get up to 450V
Methods: Participants were told the study was about memory and learning. They were told to give electric shocks to the “learner” when questions were answered incorrectly, ranging from 15V to 450V.
- Foot-to-door technique, Sunk cost trap
Results: 62,5% of participants fully obeyed the experimenter and went up to 450V
- Participants felt cognitive dissonance; their attitudes didn’t align with their behavior. They were in extreme distress
Implications: No one is immune from the pressure to obey authority
Role of social influence in Milgram Study
- Normative social influence made it difficult for people to refuse to continue with the study; Participants were afraid that the experimenter would be disappoint, hurt, or even angry if they quit
- Informational social influence plays an important role when a situation is ambiguous. Participants looked to the expert for guidance. (When experimenter didn’t specify a shock and was later unexpectedly called away, full obedience dropped to 20%)
–> Milgram wanted to show that the context was greater than the person; the participants were not bad people
Results of different versions of the Milgram Experiment
- Standard: 62.5% obedience
- Learner is a dog: same as standard :((
- Two other “teachers” refuse to continue: 10%
- Experimenter leaves the room and another “teacher” gives orders to continue: 20%
- Participants choose their own level of shocks to give: 2.5%
Other reasons why we obey (Milgram study)
- Self-justification: Once participants delivered the first shock (which they justified because it seemed innocuous), it became very difficult for them to decide where to draw the line and stop; attributing to external context
- Participants obeyed because of the social situation, not because they were aggressive or inhuman
Explain the minority who disobeyed in Milgram’s study
- Disobedience was most likely to occur at 150V, the first time the learner asked to be let out
- Students shown the film of the Milgram study exhibited a higher level of moral reasoning than a control group; being made aware of the power of authority figures made a positive impact
