chapter 1: conformity

Question 1

What is the definition of conformity?

Answer 1

a change in a persons behavior or opinions as a result of imagined or real pressure from a person or group of people

Question 2

What is the definition of internalisation?

Answer 2

a deep type of conformity where we take on the majority view because we accept it as correct. it leads to a far-reaching and permanent change in behavior, even when the group is absent.

Question 3

what is the definition of identification?

Answer 3

a moderate type of conformity where we act in the same way with a group because we value it and want to be part of it. But we don’t necessarily agree with everything the group believes.

Question 4

What is the dentition of compliance?

Answer 4

a superficial and temporary type of conformity where we outwardly go along with the majority view, but privately disagree with it. The change in our behavior only lasts as long as the group is monitoring us.

Question 5

What is the definition of informational social influence?

Answer 5

an explanation of conformity that says we agree with the opinion on the majority because we believe it is correct. this may lead to internalisation.

Question 6

What is the definition of normative social influence?

Answer 6

an explanation of conformity that says we agree with the opinion of the majority because we want to be accepted, gain social approval and be liked. This may lead to compliance.

Question 7

Who developed the two-process theory?

Answer 7

Morton Deutsch and Harold Gerard

Question 8

What is the two-process?

Answer 8

a theory that argues there are two main reasons people process that is based on two central human needs: the need to be right (ISI), and the need to be liked (NIS).

Question 9

Who was less conformist in Asch’s 1955 study of ISI?

Answer 9

students as only 28% conformed

Question 10

What were the results of Asch’s 11951 study of NIS?

Answer 10

many of the participants went along with the wrong answer when asked to answer aloud and when asked said they felt self-conscious but when asked to write the answers down conformity rates fell to 12.5%

Question 11

How did Asch measure conformity?

Answer 11

He showed three comparison line and asked which one was most like the other line, then asked to answer however there was only one naive participant

Question 12

How often did the naive participant give a wrong answer?

Answer 12

36.8% of the time

Question 13

How many of the participants do not conform in Asch’s trials?

Answer 13

25%

Question 14

How did Asch vary the experiment?

Answer 14

by changing group size, unanimity, task difficulty

Question 15

What were Asch’s results when he varied group size?

Answer 15

Asch found conformity rose significantly when there were three confederates but there was little change after

Question 16

What happened in Asch’s experiment when a confederate that disagreed with the rest?

Answer 16

conformity reduced by a quarter of the original level

Question 17

What happened when Asch increased the difficulty of the task?

Answer 17

conformity incresed suggesting ISI payed a large role when the task becaame harder

Question 18

Who repeated Asch’s experiment in 1980 in the UK?

Answer 18

Perrin and Spencer

Question 19

What were the results of Perrin and Spencer’s experiment?

Answer 19

only one student conformed in a total of 396 trial

Question 20

What is the limitation of Asch’s experiment?

Answer 20

it’s not consistent across situations or possibly across time and is not a fundamental feature of human behaviour

Question 21

What are the criticisms of Asch’s experiment?

Answer 21

participants knew what they were doing so it could have lead to demand characteristics, the groups did not resemble real-life situations, only men were tested and were part of an individualist culture