Confirmatory: Types and Explanations

Question 1

What is conformity?

Answer 1

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

Question 2

What are the kinds of social pressure we could experience?

Answer 2

• Real (involving the physical presence of others)

or

• Imagined (involving the pressure of social norms/expectations)

Question 3

What are the social norms?

Answer 3

Defining appropriate behaviour for a group

Question 4

What are the two explanations of confirmatory?

Answer 4

1. Normative social influence
2. Informational social influence

Question 5

What is a normative social influence?

Answer 5

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

Question 6

What is an informational social influence?

Answer 6

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

Question 7

What is an example of normative social influence?

Answer 7

Going to a new school and trying to act like everyone else

Question 8

What is an example of informational social influence

Answer 8

Trying to behave properly in a new fancy restarurant

Question 9

What is the abbreviation of normative social influence?

Answer 9

NSI

Question 10

What is the abbreviation of informational social influence?

Answer 10

ISI

Question 11

What type of process is ISI?

Answer 11

Cognitive process- people generally want to be right

Question 12

What type of process is NSI?

Answer 12

Emotional than a cognitive process

people prefer social approval rather than rejection

Question 13

What are the three types of conformity?

Answer 13

1. Compliance
2. Internalisation
3. Identification

Question 14

What is compliance?

Answer 14

• Most superficial type of conformity
• Conforms publicity by ‘going along with others’ ( in public)
• Privately they do not change opinions/behaviour - disagrees

Question 15

What is an example of compliance?

Answer 15

Saying you love a song because your friend does

you really hate it

Question 16

What is internalisation?

Answer 16

• 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

Question 17

What is an example of internalisation?

Answer 17

Student shares flat with vegans

They start to share their vegan views and start

Conform publicly and privately

Question 18

What is identification?

Answer 18

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

Question 19

What type of conformity do you think would be most likely occur as a result of NSI?

Answer 19

Compliance

You may disagree (privately) but agree and go along with the group to gain their approval

Question 20

What type of conformity do you think would be most likely to occur as a result of ISI?

Answer 20

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

Question 21

Would identification be most likely a result of NSI or ISI?

Justify your answer.

Answer 21

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

Question 22

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

Answer 22

Explanation : ISI

Type: Internalisation

Question 23

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

Answer 23

Explain: NSI

Type: Compliance

Question 24

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

Answer 24

Explain: NSI

Type: Internalisation

Question 25

A second example of identification

Answer 25

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.

Question 26

A limitation of NSI

There are individual differences

Answer 26

• 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

Question 27

A strength of NSI

There is research support

Answer 27

• 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

Question 28

A limitation of ISI

There are individual differences

Answer 28

• 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.

Question 29

A strength of ISI

There are research support

Answer 29

• 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.

Question 30

What is an example of identification?

Answer 30

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.