Conformity Flashcards
Conformity
a change in a persons behaviour or opinions as a result of real or imaginary pressure from a person or a group of people
internalisation
- the deepest level of conformity
- where the beliefs of the group become part of the individual belief system
identification
- temporary or short term change of behaviour or beliefs only in the presence of the group
- acting less silly at work
- Zimbardo’s study
compliance
- when you follow other peoples ideas to gain their approval
- aschs study
informational social influence
explanations for conformity
- desire to be right
- conform when we have a lack of knowledge so we look to people who we believe have more information than us
- Jenness bean jar experiment
- Lucas et al - conformity is higher for questions that were difficult
- conformity to an obviously incorrect maths answer was greater when the question was more difficult and the participant rated their own maths ability unfavourably
normative social influence
explanations for conformity
- want to fit in
- not appear foolish
- approval from the group drives compliance
- need to be liked
- aschs study
- doesn’t affect everyone as some don’t care about relationships and rather be unique
aim JENNESS (1932)
to examine whether individuals will change their opinions in an ambiguous situation, in response to a group discussion
procedure JENNESS (1932)
1) glass bottle filled with 811 beans
2) 26 students individually estimated
3) ppts divided into groups of 3 and provided an estimate through discussion
4) then ppts were able to change their answer if wanted to
findings JENNESS (1932)
- Jenness found that nearly all participants changed their original answer
- males changed answer by = 256
females = 382 - range decreased by 75%
conclusion JENNESS (1932)
- individuals changed their initial estimate due to informational social influence as they believed that the group estimates were more likely to be correct
