conformity

Question 1

define social influence

Answer 1

the process by which individuals and groups change each other’s attitudes and behaviours

Question 2

define conformity

Answer 2

type of social influence
‘yielding to group pressures’
‘a change in a person’s behaviour or opinion as a result of a real or imagined pressure from a person or group of people’

Question 3

what are the 3 types of conformity?

Answer 3

compliance
identification
internalisation

Question 4

define compliance

Answer 4

a superficial change in an individual’s behaviour to comply with that of a group, which only exists in the presence of the group. the individual’s internal beliefs remain unchanged

privately disagree, publically agree

Question 5

define identification

Answer 5

a change in an individual’s behaviour and internal beliefs to that of a specific group, but only in the presence of that group
privately and publically agree - temporary

Question 6

define internalisation

Answer 6

a complete change in an individual’s behaviour and internal beliefs to conform with a group. these changes exist outside of the presence of the group
privately and publically agree - permanent

Question 7

what are the 2 explanations for conformity?

Answer 7

informational social influence (ISI)
normative social influence (NSI)

Question 8

define ISI

Answer 8

when an individual conforms due to the belief that someone holds more knowledge than themselves and therefore is more likely to be right

Question 9

define NSI

Answer 9

when an individual conforms due to the belief that they will be ostracised or perceived negatively if they do not

Question 10

outline the aim of Asch’s original study (1951)

Answer 10

to investigate conformity and majority influence
used 123 male American undergraduates in groups of 6
consisting of 1 true participant and 5 confederates (people in on the experiment)

Question 11

outline the procedure of Asch’s original study

Answer 11

1. participants and confederates were presented with 4 lines: 3 comparison lines and 1 standard line
2. they were asked to state which of the 3 lines was the same length as the standard line
3. the real participant answered either 5th or 6th (last)
4. confederates would give the same incorrect answer for 12 trials
5. Asch observed how often the participant would give the same incorrect answer as the confederates versus the correct answer

Question 12

outline the findings from Asch’s original study

Answer 12

36.8% conformed in all 12 trials
25% never conformed
75% conformed at least once
control trial: only 1% of responses given by participants were incorrect - this eliminates eyesight/perception as an extraneous variable, thus increasing the validity of the conclusions drawn)

Question 13

what are the factors affecting conformity that Asch used in his variations?

Answer 13

group size
unanimity
task difficulty

Question 14

explain how group size affected conformity (PEEL)

Answer 14

P: an individual is more likely to conform when in a larger group
E: there was low conformity with group sizes of less than 3 confederates - any more than 3 and conformity rose by 30%
E: a person is more likely to conform if all members of the group are in agreement because it will increase their confidence in correctness of the group and decrease their confidence with their own answer. conformity does not seem to increase in groups larger than 4 (this is the optimal group size)
L: This shows that the majority must be at least 3 to exert an influence, but an overwhelming majority is not needed in all instances to bring about conformity

Question 15

explain how unanimity affected conformity (PEEL)

Answer 15

P: an individual is more likely to conform when the group is unanimous as opposed to them giving different answers
E: when joined by a confederate who gave the correct answer, conformity fell from 32% to 5.5.%. if different answers are given, it falls from 32% to 9%
E: the more unanimous the group is, the more confidence the participant will have that they are all correct and therefore the participant’s answer is more likely to be incorrect
L: Unanimity is vital in establishing a consistent majority view, which is particularly important by providing normative social influence through preventing any conflicting views arising

Question 16

explain how task difficulty affected conformity (PEEL)

Answer 16

P: an individual is more likely to conform when the task is difficult
E: e.g. Asch altered the comparison lines, making them more similar in length. since it was harder to judge the correct answer, conformity increased.
E: when the task is difficult, we are more uncertain of our answer so we look to others for conformation. the more difficult the task, the greater the conformity.
L: this suggests that informative social influence is a major mechanism for conformity when the situation is ambiguous and the individual does not have enough of their own knowledge or information to make an informed decision independently, and so has to look towards others

Question 17

explain the strengths of Asch’s study

Answer 17

+ high internal validity - strict control over extraneous variables (e.g. timing of assessment and type of task). the participants did the experiment before without confederates to see if they actually knew the correct answer, thus removing the confounding variable of lack of knowledge. this suggests that valid and reliable ‘cause and effect’ relationships can be established as well as valid conclusions
+ lab experiment - extraneous and confounding variables are strictly controlled meaning that replication of the experiment is easy. successful replication increases the reliability of the findings because it reduces the likelihood that the observed findings were a ‘one-off’
+ ethical issues - the researchers deceived the participants so they were not able to give informed consent, however, the participants were debriefed after. ethical issues do not threaten the validity or reliability of findings, but rather suggest that a cost-benefit analysis is required
+ supports NSI - participants reported that they conformed to fit in with the group so it supports the idea of NSI (publicly agree, privately disagree)

Question 18

explain the weaknesses of Asch’s study

Answer 18

• lacks ecological validity - based on peoples’ perception of lines and so the findings cannot be generalised to real life as it does not reflect the complexity of real life conformity (lacking in mundane realism)
• lacks population validity due to sampling issues - participants were American male undergrads - cannot be generalised to the wider population (beta bias as it assumed that findings from male participants can be generalised to females)
• ethical issues - participants were deceived into thinking the study was about perception not compliance (lack of informed consent). they may have been psychological harm to the participants (embarrassment). a cost-benefit analysis is required to evaluate whether the ethical costs outweigh the benefits of increased knowledge
• lacked temporal validity - occurred in 50s, in a time where there was an influence of anti-communism so people were scared to be different - may not be generalised across all time periods