CONFORMITY

Question 1

define conformity

Answer 1

• type of social influence, changing your behavior in order to fit in with a group
• a response to real (physical presence) or imagined (expectations) group pressure

Question 2

what were Kerman’s ways of conformity to the majority?

Answer 2

• compliance (most superficial)
• identification
• internalization (deepest)

Question 3

explain compliance

Answer 3

• most superficial form that occurs when you PUBLICLY change your behavior, but not PRIVATELY
• motivated by the desire for social approval, due to a fear of being rejected

Question 4

define identification

Answer 4

• involved public AND private changing of behavior, ONLY in the presence of a specific group
• motivated by the attractiveness of the source - e.g. conforming to a liked group

Question 5

define internalization

Answer 5

• deepest form of conformity
• often results in long term changes to both private and public beliefs, doesn’t depend on wanting to fit in
• accepting new beliefs and becomes their own

Question 6

what was Deutsch and Gerald’s “2 process theory”?

Answer 6

• explanations for conformity
• informational social influence (ISI)
• normative social influence (NSI)

Question 7

describe ISI

Answer 7

• cognitive process that explains conformity as our desire to be correct
• look to others for guidance
• leads to internalisation, often permanent

Question 8

describe NSI

Answer 8

• emotional explanation for conformity
• driven by desire for social approval
• revolves around societal norms
• leads to compliance

Question 9

how does Asch’s study support NSI?

Answer 9

• ppts said they gave incorrect answers, due to fear of social disapproval
• when writing answers down, conformity fell to 12.5%
• giving private answers resulted in no normative group pressure
• shows that some conformity is caused by fear of social rejection

Question 10

how does Lucas eat al’s study support ISI?

Answer 10

• found conformity increased when math questions were difficult
• ppts “knew their own mind” for easy ones, but relied on answers given to hard ones to avoid being wrong
• shows that ISI is a valid explanation for conformity

Question 11

describe Asch’s baseline study into conformity

Answer 11

• lab experiment, with 1 real ppts, 7 confederates
• asked which lines matched in length, all confederates gave the same answer
• real ppt gave their answer near the end
• 18 trials, 12 critical trials and a control condition (no confederates)

Question 12

state the findings of Asch’s baseline study into conformity

Answer 12

• 32% conformed to the incorrect answer of the majority, due to fear of being ridiculed
• 5% conformed to all 12 wrong answers
• 75% conformed at least once
• in control group, <1% gave the wrong answers

Question 13

state which variables Asch changed to develop his baseline study

Answer 13

• group size
• unanimity
• task difficulty

Question 14

• how did Asch investigate group size’s affect on conformity?
• what were his findings?

Answer 14

• increased group size from 1-15 confederates
• found curvilinear relationship with conformity
• conformity rate increased, then levelled after 4 confederates

Question 15

• how did Asch investigate unanimity’s affect on conformity?
• what were his findings?

Answer 15

• introduced confederate that gave a different wrong answer to the majority
• conformity decreased (to less than a quarter it was before)
• the dissenter freed the ppt to behave independently

Question 16

• how did Asch investigate task difficulty’s affect on conformity?
• what were his findings?

Answer 16

• made the stimulus and comparison lines more similar
• in all cases, the harder, the task the greater the conformity

Question 17

define social roles

Answer 17

• “parts” that people play as members of various social groups
• they follow expectations of what ourselves and others consider appropriate behaviour

Question 18

what were the aims of Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment

Answer 18

• to investigate how readily people would conform to social roles
• investigate whether brutality in American prisons was due to personalities or the prison environment

Question 19

describe the procedure for Zimbardo’s prison experiment

Answer 19

• 21 male volunteers screened for psychological normality
• randomly assigned to either prisoner or guard
• prisoners treated like normal criminals
• guards issues uniform, including glasses, handcuffs etc

Question 20

describe the findings for Zimbardo’s prison experiment

Answer 20

• prisoners and guards adopted roles quickly
• within hours, guards began to harass prisoners, acting in sadistic manners.

Question 21

describe the ethical criticisms of Zimbardo’s prison experiment

Answer 21

• lack of fully informed consent, as the extent of the outcome was unpredictable
• prisoners weren’t protected from psychological and physical harm
• no right to withdraw
• one prisoner removed after 36 hours

Question 22

what was Zimbardo’s conclusion for the Stanford Prison experiment

Answer 22

• both social and situational factors influence peoples conformity, due to deindividuation
• guards became brutal, prisoners became submissive

Question 23

• explain what is meant by deindividuation
• how does it link to Zimbardo’s Prison experiment?

Answer 23

• losing sense of your own identity, due to becoming too immersed in the norms of the group
• uniforms created a loss of identity

Question 24

how was Reicher and Haslam’s replication a limitation to Zimbardo’s prison experiment?

Answer 24

• replication contradicted Zimbardo’s findings
• guards did not identify with roles, refused authority
• due to lack of research support for Zimbardo, it could be inferred that conformity to social roles is not automatic, like he suggested
• suggests conformity is influenced by dispositional factors (e.g. personality)

Question 25

Explain how Zimbardo’s participants were a limitation to his findings

Answer 25

• research was andro + ethnocentric
• findings cannot be generalised to women + other ethnicities
• issue, as study was not representative and doesn’t give us info on how others would conform

Question 26

How did Zimbardo’s high control act as a strength to his study?

Answer 26

• selection of ppts was well controlled
• recruited stable ppts by screening them
• allowed for the ruling out of dispositional factors for the way they acted
• study had good internal validity, so cause and effect can be established

Question 27

How was the lack of realism in Zimbardo’s SPE a weakness?

Answer 27

• Banuazizi and Mohavedi argued that ppts played roles from stereotypes and movies they had seen
• suggests that findings tell us little about conformity, as ppts were just performing

Question 28

What is a counterpoint for those who argue that Zimbardo’s SPE lacked realism

Answer 28

• ppts argued that the stimulation felt like a real prison
• so ppts acted as they would’ve in real life
• although the SPE lacked mundane realism, findings were valuable to explain behaviour in real events

Question 29

How was Zimbardo’s exaggeration of external influences a weakness for the SPE?

Answer 29

• over exaggerated external influences (e.g. situation)
• minimisation of internal influences (e.g. dispositional factors)
• only 1/3 of guards acted brutally, others empathising with prisoners
• therefore, social roles/environments can only be a partial explanation for conformity

Question 30

Explain how the unethical nature of Zimbardo’s SPE is a weakness of the study

Answer 30

• weakness because lack of informed consent and right to withdraw compromised the autonomy and well-being of ppts
• these opposed fundamental principles in ethical research
• study was highly unethical, wouldn’t be repeated today due to psychological harm caused