Conformity Flashcards
What is Conformity?
The tendency to change our behaviour and attitude in response to the influence of others or social pressure. This pressure can be real or imagined.
What are the three type of Conformity?
1) Compliance
2) Identification
3) Internalisation
Who outlined the three types of Conformity?
Kelman
What are the two explanations of Conformity?
1) Normative social influence (NSI)
2) Informational social influence (ISI)
Who outlined the two explanations of Conformity?
Deutsch and Gerard
Compliance
- Compliance is a type of conformity where an individual publicly agrees with a group but privately disagrees.
- It is essentially agreeing with the majority in public whilst adhering to your own, personal beliefs in private.
- A person’s public opinion may have changed, but their private opinion remains the same.
- It is motivated by a desire to be accepted or to avoid social disapproval.
- It is superficial and therefore compliance stops when there are no group pressures to conform.
- It is considered not true conformity as it is temporary and short-term.
- It is the shallowest level of conformity as there is no private acceptance.
- An example is when someone laughs at a joke they don’t find funny because everyone else is laughing.
- Explanation: Normative Social Influence.
Identification
- Identification is a type of conformity where an individual conforms to the behaviours or beliefs of a group because they value membership in that group.
- It involves both public and private acceptance but only in the presence of the group.
- However, this conformity is temporary and only lasts as long as we are a part of the group.
- A person’s public opinion may have changed to become a group member, but their private opinion remains the same.
- It is stronger than compliance because there is some private acceptance.
- An example is when a person becomes a vegetarian while living with animal rights activists but goes back to eating meat when they leave the group.
- Identification also occurs when someone conforms to the demands of a given role in society.
- Explanation: Normative Social Influence
Internalisation
- Internalisation is a type of conformity which occurs when a person genuinely adopts the beliefs, attitudes or behaviours of a group because they are truly persuaded that the group is correct.
- Public and private beliefs change and now correspond to the group norms.
- It leads to a permanent and long-term change in views, even when the individual is not in the presence of the group. Therefore, conformity based on internalisation continues even when there are no external pressures to conform.
- The belief or behaviour becomes part of the person’s own value system.
- It is the deepest level of conformity as the individual has truly changed an aspect of themselves publicly and privately.
- An example is when a person converts to a new religion after discussing its teaching with believers, and continues to follow it even when they are no longer in contact with them.
- Explanation: Informational Social Influence.
Kelman argues therefore that conformity serves three purposes:
1) Group acceptance - compliance
2) Group membership - identification
3) Acceptance of group norms - internalisation
Deutsch and Gerard (1955)
Deutsch and Gerard (1955) developed a two-process theory to explain why people conform. It is based on two human needs: the need to be right (ISI) and the need to be liked (NSI).
Normative Social Influence
- Normative Social Influence is an explanation of conformity that refers to the need to be liked or accepted by a group.
- It leads to compliance, meaning people conform publicly but may disagree privately or identification, meaning people change their public and private beliefs but only in the presence of the group they wish to identify with.
- NSI is based on the fundamental need for social approval. A person conforms as it is socially rewarding, or to avoid social punishment.
- It is an emotional process and leads to a temporary change.
- It is likely to occur in situations where social acceptance is considered important and where we feel concerned about rejection. It is also likely to occur with people that we know and are close with, as we are most concerned about the social approval of our family and friends.
Informational Social Influence
- Informational Social Influence is an explanation of conformity where a person conforms to gain knowledge, or because they believe that another person or group is right.
- It leads to internalisation, meaning people publicly and privately adopt the majority view, because they genuinely believe that these new beliefs are right.
- ISI is based on the fundamental need for an individual to be right.
- It is a cognitive process and leads to a permanent change.
- It is likely to occur in situations that are new to a person and where there is some ambiguity - the correct answer is unclear. It is also likely to occur in crisis situations where decisions have to be made quickly and we assume that the group is more likely to be right.
Strength
Point: There is research evidence supporting the notion of Informational Social Influence (ISI) as an explanation of conformity.
Evidence: Lucas et al. asked students to solve math problems that varied in difficulty. They found that participants were more likely to conform to incorrect answers when the problems were difficult, especially those who had rated their mathematical ability as being low.
Justification: This supports ISI as it suggests that when people feel uncertain or lack confidence in their own knowledge, they look to others for guidance, assuming that the majority must be correct. The fact that those with lower confidence showed higher conformity reinforces the idea that ISI occurs when individuals perceive others as a source of information.
Implication: This strengthens the validity of ISI as an explanation of conformity as it demonstrates that people are more likely to conform in situations where they lack knowledge or feel unsure, which aligns with the predictions of ISI and shows that it plays a key role in real-world decision-making, particularly in ambiguous or challenging situations.
Strength
Point: A strength of Normative Social Influence (NSI) and Informational Social Influence (ISI) is that they have real-world applications, helping to explain everyday conformity.
Evidence: NSI can be seen in peer pressure, where people conform to group behaviours such as smoking, following fashion trends, or engaging in social media trends to gain approval and avoid rejection. ISI is evident in situations where people rely on experts for guidance, such as doctors during a health crisis or following advice from a government during a pandemic.
Justification: This implies that both NSI and ISI are not just theoretical concepts, but actually influence real-life decisions and behaviour. NSI explains why people conform through changing their behaviour to fit in, whilst ISI explains why people conform when they are uncertain and look to others for knowledge and guidance.
Implication: As a result, this increases the practical value of the explanations of conformity as they can be applied to real-life situations. This knowledge can be used in public health campaigns or in education to encourage positive behaviours and attitudes, making this theory useful beyond psychological research
Weakness
Point: Deutsch and Gerard’s theory on the explanations of conformity fails to account for individual differences in regards to how strongly people conform due to the desire to be liked; this is linked to Normative Social Influence (NSI).
Evidence: McGhee and Teevan found that students with a high need for affiliation, called nAffilliators, who have a greater desire to form and maintain relationships with others, were more likely to conform with others than students with a lower need for affiliation.
Justification: This supports the idea that NSI is influenced by personal characteristics alongside the need for social acceptance. Such nAffilliators are more susceptible to conforming because they fear social rejection and seek approval. Conversely, individuals who are less concerned with social acceptance are less likely to conform based on the influence of others.
Implication: This reduces the generalisability of this theory as it suggests that NSI does not affect everyone equally and that it is not a universal response but rather varies depending on personal traits and social needs, highlighting the complexity of explanations of conformity, which have evidently been overlooked.
Weakness
Point: A weakness of Normative Social Influence (NSI) and Informational Social Influence (ISI) is that they do not always operate separately, as the two-process model suggests.
Evidence: In Asch’s study, conformity dropped when there was a dissenting participant (someone who went against the majority). The dissenter could have reduced NSI by providing social support, helping participants resist group pressure. Alternatively, the dissenter could have reduced ISI by offering an alternative viewpoint, giving participants more confidence in their own judgement.
Justification: This suggests that both NSI and ISI influence conformity at the same time, rather than being separate processes. It challenges the idea that conformity is influenced by one explanation, as individual and situational factors may determine which explanation plays a stronger role or if they are equally present.
Implication: This limits the explanatory power of NSI and ISI as explanations of conformity, as it may not fully capture the complexity of real-life conformity, emphasising the need for a more integrated approach in understanding how certain factors, such as social support, influence conformity in different situations.
What can Conformity be further divided into?
1) Majority influence
2) Minority influence
What is Majority Influence?
Majority influence is a type of social influence where an individual or small group changes their beliefs or behaviours to match those of a larger group, often due to normative or social influence. It is the basis of conformity.
What is Minority Influence?
Minority influence is a type of social influence where an individual or small group persuades the majority to adopt their beliefs or behaviours, often through consistency, commitment and flexibility. It is key to social change.
(Don’t refer to it in the exam for conformity questions as conformity refers only to majority influence.)
