Ch 6 Conformity Flashcards
Conformity and types for pressure (hint 4)
Changing one’s behaviour or belief to accord with others
Types of pressure:
Explicit, Implicit, Real, And Imagined
What are some advantages of conforming?
Individual - It simplifies our world, We know the rules, Decisions are made for us because we conformed to the norms around us
Society - Is essential, Rules of traffic or driving on the right side of the road
Neutral
Or it can be very costly
Sometimes we conform when we shouldn’t This is called negative end
Types Of influences on conformity (hint 2)
Normative influence - We conform because we fear the negative results of deviating From others - The goal here is to be accepted ex shoplifting
Informational influence - We’re not sure what to do, We than Believe that others are correct in their judgment - The goal here is to be right ex-church and fit in
Two types of outcomes of conformity (hint 2)
Private conformity - Change in the belief that occurs when a person privately except the position taken by others - informational influence
Public conformity - Superficial change in overt Behavior without a corresponding to change of opinion, Produced by real or imagined group pressure ex-girl knows the shoplifting is bad but does it anyways to fit in - normative influence
Conformity - Sherif Study ~ autokinetic effect
-She had participants look at stationary light in a dark room But it seemed as though it was moving
-They have to report how much it moved then they proceeded to The next task where they did the same task but with a group
Found:
People did confirm to change their initial answers to confirm with the group this is an example of private conformity
-This was the type of informational influence Where we want to conform to be right
-Private acceptance, Conformity
Conformity ~ The Asch Experiment
-Participant thinks they’re taking part in a visual perception test what they don’t know is that the other participants are Actors, The actors are told to match the wrong lines to the line and this is repeated many times, we eventually conform with the group
Found:
We will go along even if we don’t believe in the group
-This was a type of normative influence where we conform to fit in
-Public conformity
There are factors that affect whether people will conform, what are they? (hint 8)
1) Group size - The larger the group the greater pressure to conform
2) Group Unanimity - Asch Experiment - refers to the extent that members of a majority agree with one another - public conformity -normative influence
3) Cohesion - This is the extent to which we are attracted to a social group and want to belong to it. The more cohesive the group is more of the demand for conformity
4) Expertise and status - We are more likely to conform when we believe that group members are experts or have high status. Sometimes our judgment is not accurate with this
5) Culture - Interdependent cultures Have higher conformity that independent cultures, Due to fitting in with the others are a core value to interdependent cultures
6) Gender - Originally studies stated that women conform more than men. In the end, women do conform a little more than men. This is due to, Woman are raised to value social relationships, value autonomy, and so feel the pressure to conform
7) Task Ambiguity - When we are not sure what to do, We might conform with others which is informational Influence, As we don’t know the right answer. For We Use normality influence Because we don’t want to stick out from the crowd And we want to be accepted. However when we know The right answer and the task is clear the influence is normative - Asch experiment
8) Anonymity - If the behavioural response is anonymous won’t feel normative pressure if others don’t see our behaviour. We are more likely to conform when people see our behaviour - informational conformity when responses are anonymous
Milgram Studies - obedience to authority, what is obedience
Obedience - changes in behaviour produced by the commands of authority
- This study was conducted after World War IIAnd people were trying to come to terms with the Holocaust
- Milgram was invested in conformity but wanted to examine social influence when there was a serve consequence.
Milgram Study
-Participants were recruited by newspaper ads for a study on punishment and learning. They were paid in advance. When they showed up another purchase was there but was a Confederate. They were told that they were assigned to a teacher role And the Confederate was the learner. The teacher would give a shock when the learner made an error. The Shock started 15 V The teacher was told every time the learner made a mistake they had to increase the volts. A range from 15 to 450 V And went up in increments of 15 volts. Before the experiment was Carried out, The participant who is the teacher was given a 45 shock To show the teacher that the volts r real And it was quite painful but in reality, it was the only shock administered. The actors pretending to be in pain when the shock was administrated to them. There were two conflicting roles for the teacher First thing wanted to be a good subject for the study And secondly They wanted to be moral Who doesn’t inflict harm on other people. The experimenter Was typically in the same room as the teacher and the learner We could not see but only could hear them in pain. As the volts Increased And the learner Was unconscious, Many times the teacher wanted to stop however the experimenter kept them going.
Found: The participant looks the experimenter for a direction and many asked to stop but the experimenter gave a number of protocols in order to carry them on. People would obey due to pressure from The experimenter and turn out 65% gave the max number of volts. THE EXPERIMENT CHANGED OVER TIME - READ NOTES
What are some reasons why people did this (Milgram Study)? (hint 4 answers)
1) Novel situation, There was no other participants in the room
2) Perceived authority figure, We want to obey authority figures
3) Escalation Of shocks, Steps of increments
4) Questions of Responsibility, Participants believes that the experimenter was responsible for thisWhich allowed them to feel less responsible
Ross, 1988, made a statement on the Milgram Study
Saying that the Milgram study is telling us something about human nature. how people react when the experimenter as an authority figure is telling them to do something that they don’t want to do. Therefore we obey To authority
What were the implications of this study?
Ethical Concerns - people were put under huge amounts of stress
- this changed how researchers changed experiments to use an Ethical Review Board
- Obedience to authority is a product of both situation and individual differences that is the force inside the person
What would happen now? Ethically reason, Berger replicated
read about it module 6
