Conformity Flashcards
Gender explanation
Women are more likely to conform than men. This may be because they feel more pressure to keep group harmony and are more subject to informative influence
Gender research
Mori and Ari (2010) found that women conformed at the same level as in the Asch (1951) study but men showed no significant conformity
Self-esteem explanation
It has been suggested that people who have higher self-esteem are less likely to conform as they feel more confident in their own beliefs and are less fearful of social rejection if they do not conform to the majority
Self-esteem research
Burger (1992) found that people who had a higher sense of personal control were less likely to conform to others
Group unanimity explanation
When an ally is present and disagrees with the majority, people are less likely to conform to the majority. This many be because people do not feel as much pressure from the rest of the group to conform
Group unanimity research
In one version of Asch’s procedure, it was found that when the ally was seated fourth and therefore before the true participant, conformity decreased to 5.5%
Group size example
Conformity tends to increase when the group is bigger and more people are present. This may be because a large majority tends to exert more pressure than one or two people do, therefore making the individual more likely to conform
Collectivist cultures explanation
In collectivist cultures traits such as family, community and group harmony are valued therefore we might see high conformity
Individualist cultures explanation
In individualist cultures traits such as independence and autonomy are valued therefore we might see low conformity
Individualist cultures example
Mori and Ari (2010) shows female gender roles in a collectivist culture. It was found that in female participants, conformity to majority was at a rate of 36.7% compared to in male participants who did not conform to a significant extent. This may be because of the gender difference in terms of the different social expectations of males and females.
Task difficulty explanation
It has been suggested that when the task is more difficult, conformity increases. This may be because individuals feel uncertain and there is more pressure to conform to those who they believe are correct.
Task difficulty example
Asch (1956) varied the task and found that conformity increased when the task was more difficult
Beliefs explanation
Individuals sometimes conform to groups because they are uncertain about the correctness of their beliefs and often think that the group is more likely to be correct than they are
Beliefs example
Hornsey et al. (2003) found that if someone has a strongly held conviction about an issue, they are less likely to conform
Similarity of the group explanation
It has been suggested that individuals have a strong desire to fit in with the groups in which they find themselves in and are therefore more likely to conform to the majority
