Conformity Flashcards
what did Herbert Kelman suggest ind 1958?
three types of conformity:
internalisation
identification
compliance
what is internalisation?
supports in public and private
deepest form of conformity
shares views of majority
permanent
what is identification?
act the same to be accepted
temporary
public but not private
value the groups identity
moderate level of conformity
what is compliance?
going along
shallowest form
public not private
superficial change
opinion stops as soon as group pressure goes
what did Deutsch and Gerard 1955 establish?
two process theory for conformity
NSI need to be liked
ISI need to be right
what is NSI
to gain approval
fear of rejection
non-ambiguous situations
go along even if they don’t agree
fit in with the norm
what did Asch 1951 find?
participants viewed stimulus line and comparison lines
1 line was right with others clearly wrong
123 US students tested individually with 6-8 confederates
after 6 trials confederates gave wrong answers
18 total trials with 12 critical
Naïve participants gave 36.8% conformity
25% did not conform
75% conformed at least once
‘The Asch Effect; is the conformity in non-ambiguous situations
majority said they conformed to avoid rejection
what affected conformity in Asch’s study?
group size, unanimity and task difficulty
how does groups size affect conformity?
3 confederates caused 31.8% conformity
more confederates from 3 gave little difference
after 3 people may suspect collusion
how does unanimity affect conformity?
a confederate placed who gave differing answers
could be right or wrong
conformity reduced by a quarter
allowed for more independence
influence is stronger with a unanimous majority
how does ask difficulty affect conformity?
lines became more similar in length
conformity increased
ISI takes place, the need to be right
looks to others for guidance
limitations of Asch’s study?
Perrin and Spencer 1960 repeated exp and one of 396 trails conformed. 1950s may haver just been a conformist society
aware of study so may have just gone along. groups are not representing real life ones
only men. Gender and so Beta biases
people may want to impress by being right
deception as lied to about confederates
what is ISI?
you believe others are better informed than you
want to be right
ambiguous situations, emergency situations
look to majority for answers thinking their right
what did Sherif 1935 find?
to see how people are influenced by others
used auto kinetic effect. stared at a dot on a screen that appears to move and made estimations of how it moved on their own then in groups.
alone resulted in stable estimates (personal norms) whereas in groups, answers grew closer until a group norm developed.
participants were influence by estimates of others using ISI
what did Lucas et al 2006 find?
students to answer easy or difficult math Qs
more conformity on harder questions
more conformity in those who struggle
people conform when they don’t know the answer
criticisms of ISI?
type of task effects influence of majority
objective vs subjective for example most populated vs funnest city in Britain
criticism of NSI and ISI?
effects influence behaviour in different ways
people who care less may not be affected by NSI
Asch 1951 found students were less conformist than others
what is a social role?
the behaviours expected of someone from a certain status
what is conformity to a social role?
the extent people behave in order to meet the expected manners of their social role
what is conformity to a social role?
the extent people behave in order to meet the expected manners of their social role
what procedure was used for the Stanford Prison Experiment by Zimbardo?
mock prison set up in basement of Stanford uni
volunteers screened
selected the emotionally stable
random allocation to guards and prisoners
Prisoners arrested in their homes, sent to prison
blindfolded, strip searched given uniform + number
strict routines and 16 rules enforced by guards
guards took shifts
prisoners only referred to by their number
guards had uniform and had full authority
guards used sunglasses to dehumanise them
what did Zimbardo find?
Guard internalised their roles
stopped at 6/14 days
guards became a threat to prisoners physical and mental wellbeing
Rebellion after 2 days in prison
Guards retaliated with aggression and violence
prisoner pitted against each other
one prisoner released after day one
two released on fourth day
one prisoner went on hunger strike and was force fed
what was the conclusion of Zimbardo?
power of situation influences behaviour
guards, prisoners and researchers all conformed
participants took roles on easily
acted as if it were a real prison
strengths of Stanford prison experiment?
some control over variables
controlled screening selection of participants
emotionally stable were randomly allocated
rules out individual differences
increase in validity of study
90% of conversations were about prison life
limitations of Stanford prison experiment?
some prisoners were play acting
stereotype performance basis causing riots
exaggerated power of situation
minimised tole of dispositional factors
this is seen as 1/3 of guards were peaceful
Zimbardo’s conclusions may be overstated
many ethical issues
Zimbardo became confused and when people wanted to leave responded as a warden over a psychologist
investigator effect
