Conformity

Question 1

Asch study

Answer 1

• Line judgment paradigm
• Asch thought the real subject wouldn’t conform
• • 66% of participants conformed on at least 1 of the trials
• • On average, conformed on 4/12 trials
• Started out resisting; conformity increased over time
• More recent replications get similar results

Question 2

why do people conform?

Answer 2

• normative social influence

- informational social influence

Question 3

normative social influence

Answer 3

• conforming to gain approval of others or avoid disapproval and rejection
• When: fairly ubiquitous
• Consequences: public compliance only
• example: Asch’s line judgment paradigm

Question 4

informational social influence

Answer 4

• conforming because others provide useful source of information about how to behave
• When: situation is ambiguous (right answer isn’t obvious)
• Consequences: private acceptance
• example: Sherif’s autokinetic illusion study (participants had to estimate movement of point of light in dark room where the movement was quite ambiguous -> conformed to group, even when later tested in private)

Question 5

social norms

Answer 5

implicit or explicit rules about have to behave -> can be stable or variable

Question 6

types of social norms

Answer 6

• Injunctive: perceived rules about how people are SUPPOSED to behave
• Descriptive: perceptions of how people are ACTUALLY behaving

Question 7

should we resist conformity?

Answer 7

• not necessarily -> society wouldn’t work without norms, and breaking norms can lead to social rejection (ex. sorority bulimia norms)
• however, conformity can be problematic (ie. Dangerous norms, norms that are no longer appropriate)

Question 8

how to resist conformity

Answer 8

• Awareness of norms: recognize that binging and purging is no longer appropriate -> stop purging
• Find a fellow deviant: Asch study had version where 1 confederate deviates -> conformity drops from 32% to 6%
• • Other confederate didn’t even have to be right, mere deviation is enough
• Use “Idiosyncrasy credits”: can get away with breaking occasional norm around people you know well

Question 9

Normative messages study (Cialdini): what did they do?

Answer 9

conducted studies that used injunctive and descriptive norms to see how they would influence people (ex. littering, petrified wood park)

Question 10

Normative messages study (Cialdini): what did they find?

Answer 10

• both norms are powerful, especially if paired to create positive norms
• power of descriptive norms: people littered in dirty places but not clean ones (even if they saw 1 person litter)
• power of injunctive norms: signs using injunctive norm of not stealing were more effective than signs using descriptive norm that lots of people are stealing