Conformity Flashcards
Conformity
yielding to majority influence or group pressure
Dispositional hypothesis
behaviour due to innate personality
Situational hypothesis
behaviour due to environment
Three types of conformity
Compliance
Indentification
Internalisation
Compliance
superficial agreement with group
public not private
Identification
value group so conform
prepare to change views to be part of group
Internalisation
conforming as you accept norms
private and public
Two explanations of conformity
Normative social influence
Informational social influence
Normative social influence
agreeing to be liked to not be rejected
NSI - AO3
- susceptable to individual differences
- some less concerned with being liked
NSI + AO3
nAffiliators are people who need to be liked
McGhee and Teevan - students succumb to NSI if nAffiliator
Informational social influence
unsure how to behave so look to others for guidance
based on peoples desire to be correct
ISI - AO3
Doesn’t affect everyone in the same way
ISI + AO3
Lucas et al - ppts solve maths questions easy to hard
As questions became more difficult, poor mathematicians more likely to conform and good mathematicians did not
Asch’s line jusdgement task - how many ppts
- 123 ppts
Asch - where were people sat
real ppt sat penultimate
rest were confederates
Asch - confederates answers
same but incorrect 12/18 times
Asch - ppts correct when confederate correct
98%
Asch - ppts correct when confederate incorrect
36.8%
Asch - how many ppt conformed
75%
Asch - how many ppts always conformed
5%
Asch - how many ppts never conformed?
25%
Asch - conclusion
Some conform even when clearly wrong
Variables affecting Asch conformity - grp size
group size increase -> higher conformity but plateaus at 3/4
Variables affecting Asch conformity - anonymity
reduced to 12.5%
Variables affecting Asch conformity - ambiguity
high ambiguity led to high conformity - ISI
Variables affecting Asch conformity - Ally
dropped to 5.5%
Asch + AO3
lab experiment (- low ecological validity)
ppts all same demographics - camparing like with like
Asch - AO3
Perrin and Spencer = replicated on UK uni students and found no conformity (- engineering students so lacks internal valididty)
Zimbardo conforming to social roles - how were ppts allocated
to prison or guard randomally
Zimbardo conforming to social roles - how did the experiment start for the prisoners
they were arrested at their homes by real police, stripped, deloused, and given ID number and clothes
Zimardo conforming to social roles - what were guards given
uniform, reflective sunglasses, and sticks
Zimbardo conforming to social roles - findings
Pisoners were anxious, depressed, and ill
Guards were aggressive and brutal
It was stopped on the 6th day
Zimbardo conforming to social roles - conclusion
prison conditions due to situational factors not dispositional
Zimbardo + AO3
+ecological validity (- Banuazizi + Mohaved = just acting not conforming)
+90% converstations about prison life = conforming to roles
Zimbardo - AO3
- Fromm = 1/3 guards were brutal and one claimed to model guard from ‘cook hand luke’ = dispositional factors present
- Reicher + Hasiam = failed to replicate finding + guard failed to form shared social identity + prisoners took control
