conformity

Question 1

Name the three types of conformity.

Answer 1

Compliance Identification Internalisation

Question 2

Define compliance.

Answer 2

When person conforms publicly with the views or behaviours expressed by the others in their group but continues to privately disagree with the view that they are expressing. This may be when a person hopes to achieve a favourable reaction. The behaviour changes but their belief does not so the change in behaviour is temporary.

Question 3

Define identification.

Answer 3

When a person wants to be associated with a particular group. In order to do this the person identifies with the group and feels a sense of group membership. Individuals may conform to the expectations of a social role e.g nurses. The individual may temporarily accept the groups beliefs.

Question 4

Define internalisation.

Answer 4

A person takes on the views of their group at a permanent level and they become part of the persons own way of viewing things. Internalisation might occur when a person accepts the influence because the attitude proposed is consistent with their own values. The behaviour and beliefs permanently change both publicly and privately.

Question 5

Which type of conformity is the deepest?

Answer 5

Internalisation.

Question 6

What are the two explinations for conformity?

Answer 6

Normative social influence Informational social influence

Question 7

What is normative social influence?

Answer 7

This occurs when a person conforms because of a need to be accepted by and belong to a group. As humans we have a need for social companionship and have a fear of rejection. Individuals may privately continue to disagree, but they conform on the surface. This is most likely to occur when conformity is shallow.

Question 8

What is informational social influence?

Answer 8

A desire to be right. When people are ensure of how to behave in a social situation or they are unclear as to what to think or feel about an issue, they may conform and copy other people because they do not know what to do or say. It makes sense that the majority view is likely to be right and if not the individual will blend into the group. This is more likely to occur when conformity is deep.

Question 9

Give a strength of explinations for conformity. (Research support of normative social influence).

Answer 9

Research evidence to support it. E.g when Asch interviewed his participants, some said they conformed because they felt self conscious giving the correct answer as they were afraid of disappointing. When participants wrote, conformity fell to 12.5%. This is because giving answers privately meant there was no normative group pressure. This shows that at least some conformity is due to a desire not to be rejected by the group for disagreeing with them.

Question 10

Give a strength of explinations for conformity. (Research support for informational social influence).

Answer 10

Research evidence to support informational social influence. E.g Lucas found that participants confirmed more often to incorrect answers they were given when the maths problems were difficult. This is because when the problems were easy the participants knew their own minds, but when the problems were hard the situation became unclear. The participants did not want to be wrong. This shows that ISI is a valid explanation of conformity.

Question 11

Give a limitation of explanations for conformity. (Unclear wether is is NSI and ISI being studied).

Answer 11

Often unclear wether it is NSI or ISI at work in studies. E.g Asch found that conformity is reduced when there is one other dissenting dissenting participant. The dissenter may reduce the power of NSI (because they provide social support) or ISI (because they provide an alternate source of social information). Both interpretations are possible therefore it is hard to separate ISI and NSI and both processes probably operate together.

Question 12

Give a limitation of explanations for conformity. (Individual differences in NSI).

Answer 12

One limitation is that NSI a does not predict conformity in every case. Some people are greatly concerned with being liked by others. Such people are called Affiliators as they have a strong need for affiliation. Research has found that these types of people are more likely to conform. This shows that NSI underlies conformity for some people more than it does for others.

Question 13

What was the aim of Asch’s conformity research?

Answer 13

To asses to what extent people will conform to the opinion of others, even in a situation where the answer is certain.

Question 14

Outline Asch’s baseline procedure.

Answer 14

Conducted his experiment on 123 American men in groups of 6-8. Participants had to say out loud which line was the same as X and the other confederates gave scripted answers that were incorrect each time.

Question 15

What were the findings of Asch’s baseline procedure?

Answer 15

About 75% of participants conformed at least once.

Question 16

What did Asch identify as the three main variables affecting conformity?

Answer 16

Group size -Unanimity -Task difficulty

Question 17

How did and what happened when Asch varied group size.

Answer 17

He varied the number of confederates from one to 15. He found a curvilinear relationship between group size and conformity rate. Conformity increased with group size. However, only up to a point. With one confederates, conformity to the wrong answer rose to 13.8% and with three it rose to 33%. But the presence of more confederates made little difference and the conformity rate levelled off which suggests people are very sensitive to the views of others.

Question 18

Why did Asch want to test group size?

Answer 18

He wanted to know wether the size of the group would be more important than the agreement of the group.

Question 19

Why did Asch want to test unanimity?

Answer 19

Asch wondered if the presence of a non-conforming person would affect the naïve participants conformity.

Question 20

How did Asch test Unanimity and what were the results?

Answer 20

He introduced a confederate who disagreed with the other confederates. In one variation the person gave the correct answer and in another version he gave a different one. The genuine participant confirmed less often in the precedence of this dissenter. Their presence appeared to free the naive participant to behave more independently. This suggests that the influence of the majority depends to a large extent wether it is unanimous.

Question 21

How did Asch test task difficulty and what were the results?

Answer 21

He increased the difficulty of the line-judging task by making the stimulus line and the comparison lines more similar to each other in length. This meant it became harder for the genuine parties to to see differences between the lines. Asch found that conformity increased. In these

Question 22

Why did Asch test task difficulty?

Answer 22

Asch wanted to know wether making the task harder would affect the degree of conformity.

Question 23

Give a strength of Asch’s conformity research. (Research support for task difficulty).

Answer 23

Support from other studies for the effects of task difficulty. For example, Lucas asked their participants to solve easy and hard maths problems. Participants were given answers from other students and they confirmed more often when the problems were harder. This shows that Asch was correct in claiming that task difficulty is one variable that affects conformity.

Question 24

Give a limitation of Asch’s conformity research. (Artificial study).

Answer 24

The task and situation were artificial. Participants knew that they were in a research study and may simpy, have gone along with what was expected (demand characteristics). Also, Asch’s groups did not really resemble groups that we experience in every day life. This means that the findings do not generalise to real world situations, especially those where conformity may be important.

Question 25

Give a limitation of Asch’s conformity research. (limited application and not generalisable).

Answer 25

Aschs partipants were all American men. Other research suggests that women may be more conformist, perhaps because they are concerned about social relationships and being accepted. Furthermore, the US is an individualist culture and conformity studies in collectivist cultures have found rates to be higher. This means that Aschs findings tell us little about conformity in women and people from other cultures.

Question 26

Give a limitation of Asch’s conformity research. (Ethical issues).

Answer 26

The naive participants were deceived though because they thought the others involved were genuine like themselves. However, it is worth bearing in mind that this ethical cost should be weighed up against the benefits of the study.