Chapter 6: Conformity

Question 1

Conformity

Answer 1

• A change in behavior or belief in accordance with others
• Distinct from just acting in accordance with others

Question 2

Conformity: Connotations

Answer 2

• Members of individualist cultures view this negatively, except when showing solidarity
• Collectivist members see conformity positively

Question 3

Conformity: How to tell

Answer 3

Would you do this if you were the only person around?

Question 4

Compliance

Answer 4

Insincere outward conformity for the purpose of reward or avoiding punishment

Question 5

Obedience

Answer 5

Compliance to a specific command

Question 6

Acceptance

Answer 6

• Sincere inner acceptance of conforming behaviors or attitudes
• Might not always happen right away

Question 7

The 3 Classic Conformity & Obedience Studies

Answer 7

• Sherif’s norm formation studies
• Ashc’s studies of group pressure
• Milgram’s obedience studies

Question 8

Sherif’s Studies of Norm Formation

Answer 8

• Ambiguous test with no true answer somehow led to all participants giving the same answer (norm) when continually exposed to each other’s answers
• Participants gave this norm answer when tested alone later

Question 9

Sherif’s Study: Autokinetic Phenomenon

Answer 9

Optical illusion of a stationary light appearing to move in the dark which is actually due to the viewer’s movement

Question 10

Sherif’s Study: Confederate

Answer 10

In a later test, Jacobs and Campbell used a confederate who initially gave an inflated answer that affected the following answers significantly

Question 11

Sherif’s Study: Real-Life Suggestibility

Answer 11

• Yawning, laughing, coughing
• People within social networks follow similar moods and life patterns
• We unconsciously mirror others’ actions, which leads us to feel what they feel

Question 12

Asch’s Studies of Group Pressure

Answer 12

• When given an obvious test, 37% of people conformed to give the wrong answer when the confederates gave a wrong answer
• No pressure to conform other than simply to agree

Question 13

Milgram’s Obedience Studies

Answer 13

• Most people were willing to “severely harm” others when prompted by a “researcher”
• Criticized for lack of consistent tests and lack of obedience

Question 14

Milgram’s Obedience Studies: Ethics

Answer 14

• Results not worth the stress on participants
• Of the 1/4 of participants debriefed, none reported long-term effects

Question 15

Milgram’s Studies: What Breeds Obedience

Answer 15

• Victim’s Distance
• Authority’s closeness and legitimacy
• Authority’s credentials
• Liberating effect of a disobedient participant

Question 16

Milgram’s Studies: Victim’s Distance

Answer 16

• Obedience is negatively correlated with closeness
• Explains the tendency to depersonalize killing

Question 17

Milgram’s Studies: Authority Closeness and Legitness

Answer 17

• Closeness is correlated with obedience
• When a less legitimate experimenter decided on the procedure, obedience dropped

Question 18

Milgram’s Studies: Institutional Authority

Answer 18

Compliance dropped when a less credible institution was used

Question 19

Milgram’s Studies: Liberation Through Group Influence

Answer 19

90% refused when 2 confederates first did

Question 20

Classic Studies: Behavior and Attitudes

Answer 20

• Relationship is weak when external influences are overwhelming
• Overjustification effect

Question 21

Classic Studies: Power of Situation

Answer 21

Trying to break from social constraints shows us how powerful they are

Question 22

Classic Studies: Avoiding FAE

Answer 22

• Milgram’s participants were ordinary people
• There’s nothing wrong with them
• We want to attribute their actions to violent dispositions

Question 23

Predicting Conformity: Group Size

Answer 23

• 5 or more people will have the same effect
• 1 has some effect
• 3 people is when it gets real

Question 24

Predicting Conformity: Unanimity

Answer 24

• It is easier to stand up when there are others standing up with you
• Unanimity allows one to fit in with a group and lose some anonimity

Question 25

Predicting Concformity: Cohesion

Answer 25

Working together works good

Question 26

Predicting Conformity: Status

Answer 26

• When someone has high status, we want to conform with them

Question 27

Predicting Conformity: Public Response

Answer 27

• We follow the norms of the people around us
• Getting in a line, public drinking

Question 28

Predicting Conformity: No Prior Commitment

Answer 28

We tend to follow norms when we have no personal agenda in a situation

Question 29

Cause of Conformity: Normative Influence

Answer 29

• We tend to go along with a crowd in order to be liked and gain approval from others
• This leads to public compliance

Question 30

Cause of Conformity: Informational Influence (Right)

Answer 30

• Conforming when we feel a situation is ambiguous
• We trust the crowd to be right (Fallacy)
• Leads to private acceptance

Question 31

Why Conform?

Answer 31

Conformity is greatest when:
1: People respond after the group (Asch’s study)
2: People feel incompetent, especially at a difficult task, especially when they care about “being right”

Question 32

Who Conforms? Personality

Answer 32

• Personality can predict conformity, especially when social influences are weak

Question 33

Who Conforms? Culture

Answer 33

• Culture: collectivist cultures are more likely to conform, respect for social norms is common, cultures with history of disease are more conformist, Working class people like to be similar to others compared to middle class ones

Question 34

Who Conforms? Gender

Answer 34

• Women were more likely to conform when they could see the behavior of others
• This difference may be a “confound effect” since male researchers led to greater conformity in women, suggesting that their experimental topics were male-oriented

Question 35

Who Conforms? Social Roles

Answer 35

• Most roles have certain required actions that one must conform to
• Roles are defined by clusters of norms (jobs, relationships)
• Accepting of these roles as seen as conformity, since we do not choose them and they are expected of us

Question 36

Do we Want to be Different? Reactance

Answer 36

A motive to protect or restore one’s sense of freedom, especially when our agency feels threatened

Question 37

Do we Wanna be Different? Asserting Uniqueness

Answer 37

We have a preference for being moderately unique, within the roles that we perform