Conformity

Question 1

what did Herbert Kelman suggest ind 1958?

Answer 1

three types of conformity:

internalisation
identification
compliance

Question 2

what is internalisation?

Answer 2

supports in public and private
deepest form of conformity
shares views of majority
permanent

Question 3

what is identification?

Answer 3

act the same to be accepted
temporary
public but not private
value the groups identity
moderate level of conformity

Question 4

what is compliance?

Answer 4

going along
shallowest form
public not private
superficial change
opinion stops as soon as group pressure goes

Question 5

what did Deutsch and Gerard 1955 establish?

Answer 5

two process theory for conformity

NSI need to be liked
ISI need to be right

Question 6

what is NSI

Answer 6

to gain approval
fear of rejection
non-ambiguous situations
go along even if they don’t agree
fit in with the norm

Question 7

what did Asch 1951 find?

Answer 7

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

Question 8

what affected conformity in Asch’s study?

Answer 8

group size, unanimity and task difficulty

Question 9

how does groups size affect conformity?

Answer 9

3 confederates caused 31.8% conformity
more confederates from 3 gave little difference
after 3 people may suspect collusion

Question 10

how does unanimity affect conformity?

Answer 10

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

Question 11

how does ask difficulty affect conformity?

Answer 11

lines became more similar in length
conformity increased
ISI takes place, the need to be right
looks to others for guidance

Question 12

limitations of Asch’s study?

Answer 12

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

Question 13

what is ISI?

Answer 13

you believe others are better informed than you
want to be right
ambiguous situations, emergency situations
look to majority for answers thinking their right

Question 14

what did Sherif 1935 find?

Answer 14

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

Question 15

what did Lucas et al 2006 find?

Answer 15

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

Question 16

criticisms of ISI?

Answer 16

type of task effects influence of majority
objective vs subjective for example most populated vs funnest city in Britain

Question 17

criticism of NSI and ISI?

Answer 17

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

Question 18

what is a social role?

Answer 18

the behaviours expected of someone from a certain status

Question 19

what is conformity to a social role?

Answer 19

the extent people behave in order to meet the expected manners of their social role

Question 20

what is conformity to a social role?

Answer 20

the extent people behave in order to meet the expected manners of their social role

Question 21

what procedure was used for the Stanford Prison Experiment by Zimbardo?

Answer 21

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

Question 22

what did Zimbardo find?

Answer 22

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

Question 23

what was the conclusion of Zimbardo?

Answer 23

power of situation influences behaviour
guards, prisoners and researchers all conformed
participants took roles on easily
acted as if it were a real prison

Question 24

strengths of Stanford prison experiment?

Answer 24

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

Question 25

limitations of Stanford prison experiment?

Answer 25

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