Confirmatory: Types and Explanations Flashcards
What is conformity?
A type of social influence involving a change in what we do (behaviour)
or what we think and say (attitudes)
in a response to the influence of others of social pressure
What are the kinds of social pressure we could experience?
- Real (involving the physical presence of others)
or
- Imagined (involving the pressure of social norms/expectations)
What are the social norms?
Defining appropriate behaviour for a group
What are the two explanations of confirmatory?
- Normative social influence
- Informational social influence
What is a normative social influence?
When we conform to fit in with the group because we wish to gain approval of others
we don’t want to appear foolish or left out
What is an informational social influence?
The desire to be right
when we conform we are unsure of the situation and uncertain about how to behave or what to think
we look to others who we believe have more information than us for guidance
What is an example of normative social influence?
Going to a new school and trying to act like everyone else
What is an example of informational social influence
Trying to behave properly in a new fancy restarurant
What is the abbreviation of normative social influence?
NSI
What is the abbreviation of informational social influence?
ISI
What type of process is ISI?
Cognitive process- people generally want to be right
What type of process is NSI?
Emotional than a cognitive process
people prefer social approval rather than rejection
What are the three types of conformity?
- Compliance
- Internalisation
- Identification
What is compliance?
- Most superficial type of conformity
- Conforms publicity by ‘going along with others’ ( in public)
- Privately they do not change opinions/behaviour - disagrees
What is an example of compliance?
Saying you love a song because your friend does
you really hate it
What is internalisation?
- Real and deepest type of conformity
- Individuals may conform to a group because of an acceptance of their views publicly and privately
- Leads to a change in their opinions and behaviour
- Thus change becoming permanent
What is an example of internalisation?
Student shares flat with vegans
They start to share their vegan views and start
Conform publicly and privately
What is identification?
Conform publicly and privately in order to identify with a group
Conform is temporary
Publicly change our behaviour even if we don’t privately agree with everything the group stands for
What type of conformity do you think would be most likely occur as a result of NSI?
Compliance
You may disagree (privately) but agree and go along with the group to gain their approval
What type of conformity do you think would be most likely to occur as a result of ISI?
Internalisation
You would have the desire to be right so your conversion of your behaviour is real and deep as you continue to do the right thing
Would identification be most likely a result of NSI or ISI?
Justify your answer.
It would be both
NSI - Conformity is only temporary as their views may change for a short period but go along to gain approval of the group
Emma is a student. When she first went to university, she made friends with a group of students who were passionate about animal rights. At the time, Emma didn’t have very strong opinions about animal research but over the past few months, she has become very much against it. Now she has joined a campaign against animal research and started attending public demonstrations with friends
Type of conformity, EXPLAIN
Explanation : ISI
Type: Internalisation
Sam has just started work in an office. On his second day there, his colleagues had a discussion about asylum seekers coming to the UK. His colleagues thought that they received favourable treatment from the government and that this should stop. Sam doesn’t agree with this view, but when he was asked what he thought, he said that his colleagues were right.
Type of conformity, EXPLAIN
Explain: NSI
Type: Compliance
It is Ben’s first day of college, but he arrived late and missed the part where a lecturer told all the new students what they should do during induction. He sees a group of students filing off towards a corridor and decides to follow them.
Type and explain conformity
Explain: NSI
Type: Internalisation
A second example of identification
For example, a person may decide to become a vegetarian because all of his new flat mates are vegetarian.
However, whenever he walks past a MacDonald’s he can’t resist a Big Mac
and when he is away from his flat mates he still eats meat.
A limitation of NSI
There are individual differences
- People who care more about being liked are more affected by NSI
- They are nAffilators - people who have a greater need for social relationships
- McGhee and Teevan found that students who are nAffilators were more likely to conform
- The desire to be liked underlies conformity for some people than others. One general theory does not cover the fact there are differences
A strength of NSI
There is research support
- Asch (1951) asked participants to explain why they agreed with the wrong answer. Some felt self-conscious giving the right answer and were afraid of disapproval
- Ask asked participants to write down their answers , conformity rates fell to 12.5%.
- Supports the participants’ own responses because they conforming because of NSI
A limitation of ISI
There are individual differences
- Asch (1951) found that students were fewer conformists (28%) than other participants (37%)
- Perrin and Spencer’s (1980) also found less conformity in students - in this study they were engineering students (i.e. confident about precision)
- People who are knowledgeable and/more confident are less influenced by the apparently ‘right’ view of a majority. Therefore there are differences in how individuals respond to ISI.
A strength of ISI
There are research support
- Lucas et al. (2006) asked students to give answers to easy and more difficult maths problems
- There was more conformity to incorrect answers when the problems were difficult. This was most true for students who rated their maths ability as poor.
- People conform in situations they don’t feel like they know the right answer (ISI). We look to others and assume they know better than us and must be right.
What is an example of identification?
For example, a person may decide to become a vegetarian because all of his new flat mates are vegetarian. However, whenever he walks past a MacDonald’s he can’t resist a Big Mac and when he is away from his flat mates he still eats meat.
