All topics paper one Flashcards
What are the three types of conformity ?
Internalisation
Identification
Compliance
What is the definition of internalisation ?
When a person genuinely accepts the groups norms. This results in a public change of opinions/behaviour. This change is likely to be permanent because attitudes have been internalised, i.e., become part of the way the person thinks. The change in opinions/behaviour persists even in the absence of other group members.
What definition is of identification?
Sometimes we conform to the opinions/behaviour of a group because there is something about the group that we value. We identify with the group, so we want to be part of it. This may mean we publicly change our opinions/behaviour to achieve this goal, even if we don’t privately agree with everything the group stands for.
What is the definition of compliance ?
This type of conformity involves simply ‘going along with others’ in public, but privately not changing personal opinions and /or behaviour. Compliance results in only a superficial change. It also means that a particular behaviour or opinion stops as soon as the group pressure stops.
What are the two explanations for conformity ?
Informational social influence and Normative social influence.
What is informational social influence (ISI) ?
it is about who has better information - you or the rest of the group. often we are uncertain about what behaviours or beliefs are right or wrong. ISI is a cognitive process because it is to do with what you think.
What is Normative social influence (NSI) ?
It is about norms, i.e., what is ‘normal’ or typical behaviour for a social group. Norms regulate the behaviour for a social group. Norms regulate the behaviour of groups and individuals so it is not surprising that we pay attention to them. People do not like to appear foolish and prefer to gain social approval rather than be rejected. So NSI is an emotional rather than a cognitive process.
What research supports ISI (Informational social influence) ?
Lucas et al (2006)
What did Lucas et al 2006 do ?
They asked students to give answers to mathematical problems that were easy or more difficult. There was greater conformity to incorrect answers when they were difficult rather than when they were easier ones. This was most true for students who rated their mathematical ability as poor. The study shows that people conform in situations where they feel they don’t know the answer, which is exactly the outcome predicted by the ISI explanation. We look to other people and assume they know better than us and must be right.
How does NSI relate to individual differences ?
Some research shows that NSI does not affect everyone’s behaviour in the same way. for example, people who are less concerned with being liked are less affected by NSI than those who care more about being liked.
What did McGhee and Teevan 1967 find in relation to individual differences in NSI ?
They found that students high in need of affiliation were more likely to conform. This shows that the desire to be liked underlies conformity for some people more than others. Therefore, there are individual differences in the way people respond.
What research supports NSI (Normative social influence) ?
Asch (1951) found that many of his participants went along with a clearly wrong answer just because other people did. So he asked them why he did this. Some of the participants said they felt self - conscious giving the correct answer and they were afraid of disapproval. When Asch repeated his study but asked participants to write down their answers instead of saying them out loud, conformity rates fell to 12.5 %.
What was the procedure for Asch’s research into conformity ?
Asch tested conformity by showing participants two large white cards at a time. On one card was a ‘standard line’ and on the other card there were three ‘comparison lines’. One of the three lines was the same length as the standard and the other two were always substantially different (i.e., clearly wrong). The participant was asked which of the three lines matched the standard. The participants in this study were 123 American male undergraduates. Each naive participant was tested individually with a group of between six and eight confederates. The naive participant wasn’t aware that the others were confederates. On the first few trials all the confederates gave the right answers but then they started making errors. All the confederates were instructed to give the same wrong answer. Altogether each participant took part in 18 trials and on 12 ‘critical trials’ the confederates gave the wrong answer. A trial was one occasion identifying the length of a standard line.
What were Asch’s findings in his research into conformity?
The naive participant gave a wrong answer 36.8% of the time. Overall 25% of the participants did not conform on any trails, which means that 75% conformed at least once. The term Asch effect has been used to describe this result - the extent to which participants conform even when the situation is unambiguous. When participants were interviewed afterwards most said they conformed to avoid rejection (normative social influence).
What were the three types of Asch’s variations when researching conformity ?
- group size
- Unanimity
- task difficulty
