Conformity Flashcards
What is conformity?
Changing behaviour or beliefs to match others.
Influence that produces conformity in order to be accepted is
Normative
Influence that produces conformity in an effort to be correct is
Informational
A superficial change in behaviour without an opinion change is
public conformity
Summarize Sherif’s conformity study
Participants alone vs in a group altered their answers on the distance the light had moved in order to match the group consensus (informational conformity, private acceptance)
What was the findings that emerged from the Asch experiment, and what were the two types related theories.
That even when a group is obviously wrong, people generally conform. (normative influence, public conformity)
What the factors that affect conformity?
Group Size
Group Unanimity
Cohesion
Expertise and Status
Culture
Gender (small diff)
Task Ambiguity
Anonymity
Describe the Milgram studies outcomes.
Factors of perceived authority, proximity, novel situation, gradual escalation, questions of responsibility led to 2/3 of people administering shocks to a stranger who begged for it to stop.
Obedience is
changes in behaviour at the commands of authority
What were the ethical concerns that arose from the Milgram studies?
No informed consent
Extreme trauma for participants
Pressured to continue
Acceptance can follow
compliance (att follows beh)
What was the outcome of the Hofling study in 1966?
that nearly all the nurses complied with an obviously bad order from a doctor
In 2005, what did Bern’s discover about neural maps in their conformity study?
That conforming to a wrong group answer lit up neural regions related to perception AND going against the group answer lit up areas associated with emotion.
When social pressures are low than personality can predict
behaviour
Reactance is
A motive to protect or restore our sense of freedom that arises when someone threatens our freedom of action.
