conformity

Question 1

What is conformity?

Answer 1

A change in a person’s behaviour as a result of pressure from others

Question 2

What are the three types of conformity?

Answer 2

Compliance, identification, internalisation

Question 3

What is compliance?

Answer 3

Conforming publicly but privately disagreeing.
Most shallow level of conformity.
Temporary change.
Linked to NSI

Question 4

What is identification?

Answer 4

Conforming publicly and privately
Middle level of conformity
Temporary change

Question 5

What is internalisation?

Answer 5

Conforming publicly and privately
Deepest level of conformity
Permanent change
Linked to ISI

Question 6

What are the two explanations for conformity?

Answer 6

NSI and ISI

Question 7

What is NSI?

Answer 7

Normative Social Influence
Agreeing with the opinion of the majority because we want to be liked/gain social approval
May lead to compliance
nAffiliators

Question 8

What is nAffiliators research support?

Answer 8

nAffiliators - people who have a strong need for affiliation
Paul McGhee and Richard Teevan (1967) found that students that were nAffiliators were more likely to conform

Question 9

What is ISI?

Answer 9

Informational Social Influence
Agreeing with the opinion of the majority because we believe their behaviour is correct and we want to be correct also
May lead to internalisation
Lucas et al.

Question 10

What is Lucas et al. research support?

Answer 10

Todd Lucas et al. (2006) found PPs conformed more often to incorrect answers when they were given maths problems that were difficult

Question 11

What is Asch’s baseline procedure?

Answer 11

123 American men tested on line length
Groups of 6-8 PPs
1 naive PP, rest were confederates
PPs had to say which of the comparison lines was the same as the standard line
Naive PPs - 36.8% conformed
25% never conformed

Question 12

What were Asch’s variations?

Answer 12

Group size - varied the number of PPs (1-15) - conformity increased (curvilinear relationship)
Unanimity - introduced confederate who disagreed with other confederates (dissenter) - genuine PP conformed less often
Task difficulty - made lines similar length - conforming increased (ISI)

Question 13

Asch Evaluation Points

Answer 13

Artificial task - not reflective of everyday life (lacks ecological validity)
Demand characteristics - PP could have guessed aim (not behave naturally)
Outdated study - lacks temporary validity
Unethical - PPs lied to, might feel embarrassed
Gender bias - findings can’t be applied to females
Culture bias - findings can’t be applied to other cultures