conformity Flashcards
define informational social influence under conformity.
when other people become a source of info to guide our behaviours in an ambiguous situation
why do we succumb to informational social influence?
we believe other people’s information is more correct than ours
when do we use informational social influence?
- when the situation is ambiguous
- when we are under time pressure
- when the situation is important
- when other people are experts
define normative social influence under conformity.
when we conform to others in order to be liked and accepted by them
is it informative or normative social influence when someone follows the group even when the behaviour is dangerous?
normative social influence - they want to be liked, so they follow even when behaviour is dangerous
why does acceptance matter so much?
- human are social in nature and other people are important to our wellbeing
- being deprived of human contact is stressful and traumatic
one way to invite acceptance of others is to signal your commitment to the _______ ____.
social norms
define social norms.
implicit and explicit rules a group has for acceptable behaviours, values and beliefs of its members.
what is 2 consequences of not following social norms in a group?
- seen as different, difficult and deviant - ridiculed, punished and rejected by other group members
- if friendly enough, group may bring you back on track by teasinf or talking to you
- if talks don’t work, group may react negatively, like in 1., or withdraw from you
- propaganda - systematic attempt to manipulate thoughts/behavior of others, with the understanding that resisting normative influence can be costly
Asch (1958) suggested that our need for _________________ runs so deep, that even when a situation is completely ____________, we are sitll prone to social influence of others, and will copy behaviours that are obviously _____________.
acceptance; unambiguous; incorrect
in the lines experiment by asch, 1956, what is the IV and DV?
IV - presence of confederates giving incorrect answers
DV - conformity to those incorrect answers
what happened in Asch’s line experiment, 1956?
- participants were presented with a standard line and three comparison lines of which 2 were clearly shorter or longer, and 1 correctly matching it.
- participants asked to identify which comparison line matched the standard line in length.
- experiment focused on whether participants would conform to incorrect judgments made by confederates or maintain their own correct judgment.
- in asch’s line experiments 1956, evidence of conformity surfaced where ____% of participants conformed in at least ___ target trial. Of the 12 trials, people on average conformed in about ___% of the time.
- because the right answers were obvious, conformity was unlikely due to ______________ influence but ___________ influence.
- 76; 1; 33
- informational; normative
in asch’s line experiment 1956, what are the reasons for normative conformity?
- don’t want to feel unusual in other’s eyes
- believe what others think is important even when they are strangers
name 2 findings of other versions of asch’s line experiment (1956).
- 3 people is enough to produce conformity effect
- higher conformity if group contains authority figures
- when someone breaks consensus, even with the wrong answer, conformity drops
- if told to write down answers privately without saying out loud, conformity drops (since now there is no concern about what the group thinks of them)
