Chapter 6: Conformity Flashcards
Conformity
Change in behaviour/belief/perceptions to accord with group norms
Negative connotation of conformity in individualistic culture (submission, compliance)
Positive connotation of conformity in collectivist cultures (tolerance, self control, maturity)
Compliance
Insincere, outward conformity
Comply to reap a reward or avoid a punishment
Obedience
Compliance to an explicit command or direct order
Acceptance
Sincere, inward conformity
Conforming or complying because its right
Acceptance sometimes follows compliance
E.g. social distancing
Social Norms
Rules or guidelines in a group or culture about what behaviours are proper and improper
E.g. stand for national anthem
Muzafer Sherif: Social Norms in the Lab
Participants placed in a dark room and shown a pinpoint of light 5m ahead
Light stays still for a moment then moves erratically and disappears
Asked to estimate distance it moved and provide responses to researcher
Return the next day with other participants at the same time to provide answers together
Answers all became closer together and the same after the fourth day
When tested a year later alone, estimates remained the same as the group
Robert Jacobs & Donald Campbell: False Beliefs
Had a group complete same experiment as above
Confederate in first group gave inflated estimate then left the group
Group members were cycled through, but the inflate estimate remained for 5 generations of participants
Shows the transmission of false beliefs through conformity
Peter Totterdell & Mood Linkage
Being around happy people makes you happier
People in the same work groups tend to share up and down moods
People in a social network also move toward sharing similar trends of obesity, sleep loss, moods, and drug use
Social contagion
The Chameleon Effect
Behaviour synchronizing
More likely to rub face or shake foot if confederate next to you did
Suggestibility
UFO sightings, illnesses, suicides tend to be reported/come in waves
Young men imitating suicide from a book, also imitated clothes the character wore
Werther effect
These events increase in prevalence after well publicized incidents
Wether Effect
Imitative suicidal behaviour
Asch’s Studies of Group Pressure
Group of participants shown group of lines and comparison line
Told to identify which line matches the comparison
Respond one at a time in order
All confederates except for one
Once confederates start giving the wrong answer ¾ conformed at least once
37% of responses were conforming
No obvious pressure to conform (no reward for teamwork, no punishment for individuality)
Milgram’s Obedience Study
Experiment with the shocks
65% went all the way to 450 volts
People who did stop often did at 150 volt point when learners protests became more compelling
Women’s compliance similar to men’s
Milgram Study Issues
Methodological: experimenters departed from prods they should use to encourage participants
Ethics: significant distress, no full debrief that didn’t actually shock
Factors Increasing Disobedience
Victim’s emotional distance
Closeness and legitimacy of authority
Institutional authority
Liberating effects of group influence
Mimicry
Very subtle, non conscious form of conformity
Taking on speech patterns and behavioural mannerisms of one’s interaction partner
Participants more likely to engage in behaviour if confederate in conversation is doing the behaviour
Implications: we like them more, feel interaction goes more smoothly, inclined to help
Predictors of Conformity
Group size
Unanimity
Cohesion
Status
Public response
No prior commitment
Tight Cultures
Strong norms, high constraint
High homogeneity
Strong shared values
E.g. South Asian countries - Pakistan, India - East Asian countries - Japan, South Korea, Singapore
Loose Cultures
Few rules, casual
High diversity
Weaker shared values
Tend to be more tolerant of deviations from norms
E.g. Israel, Brazil, US, Hungary, Netherlands
Normative Influence
To be accepted and avoid rejection
Going along with the crowd to avoid rejection, stay in people’s good graces, or to gain approval
Public Conformity
Superficial change in overt behaviour only (what you say changes, but your beliefs remain the same)
Concern for social image drives normative influence
Informational Influence
Obtain important information
Leads people to privately accept others’ influence
People use others as a valuable source of information
Desire to be correct produces informational influence
Private Conformity
Changes in both overt behaviour and beliefs
Bystander Intervention
If there’s lots of people standing around, people are less likely to help (people assume that others know something you don’t know about why you shouldn’t help)
Personality & Conformity
Personality predicts behaviour better when social influences are weak
Culture & Conformity
Collectivist cultures are more responsive to people’s influence
Cultures that display greater conformity in experiments had historically greater prevalence of malaria, dengue, and tuberculosis
Working class people prefer conformity, middle class prefer individuality
Gender & Conformity
No difference between men and in women
Differences in how women were treated in the milgram experiment
Males found to conform more to female oriented topics where women display superior skills/knowledge
Women conform more to male oriented topics when males display superior knowledge/skill
Social Roles & Conformity
Social life is like acting on a theatrical stage using scenes, masks, and scripts
Roles have a lot to do with conformity
People tend to absorb their roles
Reactance
Individuals value freedom and self efficacy
When social pressure threatens sense of freedom they tend to rebel
Contribution to underage drinking: warnings against drinking can increase drinking
Contribution to assault: refusal to comply increases desire to sexual assault
Theory of Psychological Reactance
People act to protect their sense of freedom
Attempts to restrict freedom often produce anti-conformity “boomerang” effect
Spontaneous Attributes
Children told to tell us about themselves more likely to mention their distinctive attributes
Asserting Uniqueness
People feel uncomfortable if they feel too similar or too different from the group
People want to be seen as moderately unique
People act in ways to assert their individuality
People with high need for uniqueness tend to be less responsive to influence
