Conformity Flashcards
(17 cards)
Definition of conformity:
- also known as majority influence
- yielding to a group pressure - our behaviours and beliefs are influenced by larger groups of people
Definition of conformity:
- also known as majority influence
- yielding to a group pressure - our behaviours and beliefs are influenced by larger groups of people
Types of conformity:
Compliance
Identification
Internalisation
What is compliance?
A person goes along with other people’s behaviours or attitudes but does not believe them to be correct
What is identification?
Individuals adjust their behaviour and opinions to that of the group as membership of the group is desirable
What is internalisation?
The individual accepts the groups view and believes that view to be correct
Why do we conform?
Due to informative and normative social influence
What is informative social influence?
- people have a need to be seen “in the right”- we look to others for information about how to behave because we believe other people have more knowledge
- e.g. younger students looking up to older students
What is informative social influence?
- people have a need to be seen “in the right”- we look to others for information about how to behave because we believe other people have more knowledge
- e.g. younger students looking up to older students
What type of conformity is informative social influence?
Internalisation
What is normative social influence?
- people need to fit in with the norms of the group- people will then conform for social approval
- e.g. going to buy Taylor Swift tickets even if you don’t like her
What type of conformity is normative social influence?
Compliance
Explanations for conformity:
- Morton Deustch and Harold Gerard (1955) developed a two process theory, arguing that there are two main reasons that people conform
- they are based on two central human needs: The need to be right (ISI) and the need to be liked (NSI)
Strength of NSI:
- Research Support
- Asch (1951) interviewed his participants, some said they conformed because they felt self-conscious giving the correct answer and they were afraid of disapproval
- when participants wrote their answers down, 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 desire not to be rejected by the group for disagreeing with them (i.e. NSI)
Strength for ISI:
- research support
- Todd Lucas et al (2006)
- Found that participants conformed 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 problems were difficult, the situation became ambiguous
- the participants did not want to be wrong, sp they relied on others to give them answers
- this shows that ISI is a valid explanation of conformity because results are what ISI would predict
COUNTERPOINT for strength of ISI:
- Often unclear whether ISI or NSI work in research studies (or in real life)
- Asch (1955) found that conformity is reduced when there is one other dissenting participant
- the dissenter may reduce the power of NSI or may reduce the power of ISI
- Therefore, it is hard to separate ISI and NSI and both processes probably operate together in most real-world conformity situations
Weakness for NSI:
- individual differences
- does not predict conformity in every case
- Some people are greatly concerned with being liked by others. Such people are called nAffiliators- they have a strong need for affiliation (want to relate to other people)
- Paul McGhee and Richard Teevan (1967) found that students who were nAffiliators were more likely to conform to
- this shows that NSI underlies conformity for some people more than it does for others
- there are individual differences in conformity that cannot be fully explained by one general theory of situational pressures
