CONFORMITY Flashcards
what is conformity?
choosing to behave in the way that the majority of the group does and in a way that is considered socially acceptable
what are the 3 types of conformity?
compliance, identification, internalisation
what is compliance?
it involves ‘going along with others’ in public but privately they have no change in opinion. it is a superficial change in behaviour not thoughts that is temporary.
what is identification?
it involves going along with a group because we value the group, and may change their behaviour or opinion publicly as a result. there may be some private change though we may not agree with everything the group stands for. it usually lasts as long as the group is important to us.
what is internalisation?
private and public acceptance of group norms. it is a permanent change in behaviour and thoughts even when the group is not present.
what is Deutch and Gerard (1955) explanation for conformity?
they created the two-process theory which suggested 2 reasons as to why people conform.
what are the 2 parts of the two-process theory?
normative social influence, informative social influence.
what is normative social influence?
it is the desire to be liked/accepted. individuals conform to avoid disapproval of others, but there’s no change in thinking, done to be the same as everyone/part of the norm. it is an emotional process rather than cognitive as it relates to how we feel.
when is normative social influence most likely to happen?
with strangers when worried about rejection. with those we know when we require social approval. stressful situations when need for social support.
what is informative social influence?
it is the desire to be right. we do it when we try to act correctly; when we are unsure on how to behave, or what the answer is, we look to others to reduce the uncertainty or as a source of information. it is a cognitive process as it links to how we think.
when is informative social influence most likely to happen?
in new situations. where there is some ambiguity. in crisis situations where decisions have to be made quickly. when one person is considered to be an expert.
AO3: how is ‘supporting evidence’ a strength to explanations of conformity?
Asch (1951, 1955) line study provides evidence for normative (many confederates said they conformed to avoid social rejection) and informative social influence (task difficulty, the conformity rate was higher due to higher ambiguity rates due to the task becoming more difficult).
AO3: how is ‘further supporting evidence’ a strength to explanations of conformity?
Lucas et al (2006) got participants to give answers out loud to easy and hard maths questions. he found that conformity rates were greater for harder problem. therefore, conformity was most likely to occur when there was uncertainty. the supports the idea of informative social influence as the results were what ISI would predict.
AO3: how is ‘NSI OR ISI’ a limitation to explanations of conformity?
how do we know one is the cause of conformity or the other as it is not always clear or it may be a combination of both. for example, Asch found that conformity reduced when there was 1 dissenting participant. they may reduce the power of NSI as they provide social support or may reduce the power of ISI as they provide an alternate source of social information. therefore, it can be quite hard to split the ideas of ISI and NSI as in real life they are more likely to co-exist.
AO3: how is ‘individual differences’ a limitation to explanations of conformity?
some individuals are classed as nAffiliators, these are people who are greatly concerned with being liked by other people. McGhee and Teevan (1967) found that students who nAffiliators were more likely to conform. therefore, this shows that NSI underlies conformity for some people more than others and that the 2 explanations don’t explain someones behaviour on their own.
