Chapter 2: Conformity Flashcards
Define:
groupthink
The mode of thinking that persons engage in when concurrence seeking becomes so dominant in a cohesive ingroup that it tends to override realistic appraisal of alternative courses of action (e.g. NASA’s Voyager launch).
Define:
conformity
What is Conformity?
Change in a person’s behavior or opinions as a result of real or imagined pressure from a person or group of people.
What role does unanimity play in conformity?
Factors That Increase or Decrease Conformity
The likelihood that the participant’s opinion will conform to that of the majority is influenced by whether the majority opinion is unanimous. If a participant is joined by even one ally who gives the correct response, his or her conformity to an erroneous judgment of the majority drops sharply.
What role does commitment play in conformity?
Factors That Increase or Decrease Conformity
One way conformity to group pressure can be decreased is by inducing the individual to make some sort of commitment to his or her initial judgment.
What role does accountability play in conformity?
Factors That Increase or Decrease Conformity
Under most conditions, accountability to the group tends to increase conformity. However, most people will only go along to get along unless they know that they will be held accountable for a dumb, compliant decision.
What role does self-esteem play in conformity?
Factors That Increase or Decrease Conformity
Individuals who have generally low self-esteem are far more likely to yield to group pressure than those with high self-esteem. As well, if individuals are led to believe that they have little or no aptitude for the task at hand, their tendency to conform increases. Similarly, individuals who are given the opportunity to have prior success with a task are far less likely to conform than those who walk into the situation cold. Another important factor is how secure an individual feels in a group, with more secure members being more likely to deviate.
What role does the group exerting pressure play in conformity?
Factors That Increase or Decrease Conformity
A group is more effective at inducing conformity if (1) it consists of experts, (2) the members are of high social status (e.g. the popular kids in a high school), or (3) the members are comparable with the individual in some way.
What is the role of information in conformity?
Belonging Versus Getting Information
We often rely on other people as a means of determining reality. When physical reality becomes increasingly uncertain, people rely more and more on “social reality”; that is, they are more likely to conform to what other people are doing, not because they fear punishment from the group but because the group’s behavior supplies them with valuable information about what is expected of them.
What is the difference between conforming out of fear and conformity induced by information?
Belonging Versus Getting Information
It is not always easy to distinguish between the two types of conformity. Often the behavior is identical; the key element that differentiates the two processes is the presence or absence of a punitive agent. Conformity resulting from the observation of others for the purpose of gaining information about proper behavior tends to have more powerful ramifications than conformity in the interest of being accepted or of avoiding punishment.
What role do emotions play in conformity?
Belonging Versus Getting Information
If the physical reality is clear and explainable, peoples’ emotions are not greatly influenced by the behavior of other people. However, when people experience a strong physiological response, the origins of which are not clear, people interpret their own feelings depending on the behavior of other people who supposedly are in the same chemical boat.
What is the:
death qualification procedure
Belonging Versus Getting Information
The process whereby, in selecting a jury for a murder trial, prospective jurors who are opposed to the death penalty are systematically excluded from the jury. This procedure takes place in the presence of those people who are eventually selected to serve on the jury. When jurors who believe in capital punishment witness others being dismissed because they oppose the death penalty, this may subtly suggest to them that the law disapproves of people who oppose the death penalty. This conclusion may increase their tendency to impose the death penalty.
Define:
compliance
Responses to Social Influence
The behavior of a person who is motivated by a desire to gain reward or avoid punishment. Typically, the person’s behavior is only as long-lived as the promise of reward or the threat of punishment.
- On the level of compliance, most researchers see little difference between the behavior of humans and other animals because all organisms are responsive to concrete rewards and punishments.
Define:
identification
Responses to Social Influence
A response to social influence brought about by an individual’s desire to be like the influencer. That is, we adopt a particular behavior because it puts us in a satisfying relationship to the person or persons with whom we are identifying. Identification can be dissipated if you come into contact with persons more valuable than your previous social influencer, or if your relationship with the previous social group fades.
- Identification differs from compliance in that we do come to believe in the opinions and values we adopt, although we do not believe in them very strongly.
What role does internalization play in social influence?
Responses to Social Influence
The internalization of a value or belief is the most permanent, most deeply rooted response to social influence. The motivation to internalize a particular belief is the desire to be right. Thus, the reward for the belief is intrinsic. If the person who provides the influence is perceived to be trustworthy and to have good judgment, we accept the belief he or she advocates and we integrate it into our system of values. Once it is part of our own system, it becomes independent of its source and will become extremely resistant to change. The effect of social influence through identification can be dissipated by a person’s desire to be right.
Demonstrate the differences between compliance, identification, and internalization using the example of speed limits.
Responses to Social Influence
Society employs highway patrol officers to enforce these laws, and as we all know, people tend to drive within the speed limit if they are forewarned that a certain stretch of highway is being carefully scrutinized by these officers. This is compliance. It is a clear case of obeying the law to avoid paying a penalty. Suppose you were to remove the highway patrol. As soon as people found out about it, many would increase their driving speed. But some people might continue to obey the speed limit; a person might continue to obey because Dad (or Uncle Charlie) always obeyed the speed limit or al- ways stressed the importance of obeying traffic laws. This is identification. Finally, people might conform to the speed limit because they are convinced that speed laws are good, that obeying such laws helps to prevent accidents, and that driving at a moderate speed is a sane and reasonable form of behavior. This is internalization. And with internalization you would observe more flexibility in the behavior. For example, under certain conditions—at 6 o’clock on a Sunday morning, with perfect visibility and no traffic for miles around—the individual might exceed the speed limit. The compliant individual, however, might fear a radar trap, and the identifying individual might be identifying with a very rigid model; thus, both would be less responsive to important changes in the environment.
