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SOCIAL INFLUENCE > CONFORMITY > Flashcards

CONFORMITY Flashcards

1
Q

What is CONFORMITY?

A
  • yielding to group pressure

- the majority influence of a group to change a person’s attitudes/beliefs

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2
Q

What is COMPLIANCE?

A
  • weakest form

- public change of behavior/not private

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3
Q

What is IDENTIFICATION?

A
  • intermediate level
  • change publicly and privately
  • only while a member of that group
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4
Q

What is INTERNALISATION?

A
  • strongest level
  • true change of public and private beliefs
  • truly believe majority is right
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5
Q

What is NORMATIVE SOCIAL INFLUENCE?

A
  • humans have a need to be accepted and approved
  • conform to majority behaviour to be accepted and approved
  • change behaviour to fit into group
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6
Q

What is INFORMATIONAL SOCIAL INFLUENCE?

A
  • humans have a desire to be right

- conform to majority behaviour to behave in correct way

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7
Q

What are the 3 variables affecting conformity?

A
  • group size
  • unanimity
  • task difficulty
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8
Q

What is GROUP SIZE?

A
  • conformity increases as majority size increases

- reaches a point where majority size doesn’t effect conformity

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9
Q

What is the research connected to GROUP SIZE?

A
  • ASCH (1956)
  • 13% conformity with 2 confederates
  • 32% conformity with 3 confederates
  • adding extra confederates had no effect on conformity levels
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10
Q

What is UNANIMITY?

A
  • conformity reduces when majority is not unanimous

- if one member of group express’s different view, person less likely to conform to majority view

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11
Q

What is the research connected to UNANIMITY?

A
  • ASCH (1956)
  • if 1 confederate gave correct answer, conformity rate dropped to 5.5%
  • if they gave the other wrong answer, conformity rate dropped to 9%
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12
Q

What is TASK DIFFICULTY?

A
  • conformity increases as task difficulty increases
  • individuals look to others for guidance
  • informational social influence
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13
Q

What is the research linked to TASK DIFFICULTY?

A
  • ASCH (1956)

- when lines were more similar to each-other, ppt more likely to conform

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14
Q

What was the aim of ASCH’s study?

A

-to what extent people will conform to a majority opinion even when it appears obviously incorrect

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15
Q

What was the procedure of ASCH’s study?

A
  • 50 American male college students
  • group of 7
  • all other people were confederates
  • target line card and 3 different length lines card
  • ppt said which line matches target line
  • correct answer always obvious
  • confederates briefed with specific answers
  • 18 trials
  • 6 correct answers
  • 12 wrong answers (critical trial)
  • answers out loud, ppt always second from last
  • post experimental interview
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16
Q

What were the findings of ASCH’s study

A
  • average level of conformity 32% in critical trials
  • no ppt conformed on very critical trial
  • 74% ppt conformed at least once
17
Q

What was the conclusion of ASCH’s study?

A
  • even when correct answer not ambiguous majority has huge effect on individual
  • people may go along with majority for different reasons
  • majority doesn’t have the same impact on everyone
18
Q

What were ASCH’s findings? (interviews)

A
  • showed 3 levels of conformity
  • inaccurate perception
  • did not want to be minority in case of exclusion
  • thought they gave correct answer, not influenced
19
Q

What is a strength of ASCH’s research?

A
  • research support by CRUTCHFIELD (1953)
  • eliminated face to face contact by placing ppts in booths
  • conformity increased when task difficulty increased
20
Q

What is a weakness of ASCH’s research? (1)

A

ECOLOGICAL VALIDITY

  • mori and arai (2010)
  • argued ASCH’s study may not tell us about real life situations
  • artificial and lacks mundane realism
21
Q

What is a weakness of ASCH’s research? (2)

A

CULTURAL DIFFERENCES

  • meta analysis by smith and bond (1998)
  • found conformity levels were higher in collectivist cultures (interdependence highly valued)
  • than individualistic cultures (independence)
22
Q

Which researches provided evidence for NORMATIVE SOCIAL INFLUENCE?

A
  • GARANDEAU and CILLESSEN (2006)

- LINKENBACH and PERKINS (2003)

23
Q

What was GARENDEAU and CILLESSEN’s study?

A

GARANDEAU and CILLESSEN (2006)

  • children with higher needs for social expectance more likely to conform to bully behaviour
  • by conforming they believed they would be accepted, and maintain the friendship regardless of how they privately felt about bullying
24
Q

What was LINKENBACH and PERKINS study? (2003)

A
  • adolescents exposed to message that majority of peers did not smoke
  • meant they were less likely to smoke
25
Q

Which researchers provided evidence for INFORMATIONAL SOCIAL INFLUENCE?

A
  • JENNESS (1932)

- ALLEN (1980)

26
Q

What was the aim of JENNESS’s study? (1932)

A

-investigate whether individual judgments of number of jelly beans was influenced by discussion in groups

27
Q

What was the procedure of JENNESS’s study? (1932)

A
  • 811 white beans
  • ppt made individual estimates
  • discussed with others and made a group estimate
  • ppt made second individual estimate
28
Q

What were the findings of JENNESS’s study? (1932)

A
  • nearly all ppt changed their answer
  • on average males changed their answer by 256 beans
  • females 382 beans
29
Q

What was the conclusion of JENNESS’s study?

A
  • showed power of conformity in ambiguous situation
  • likely to be result of INFORMATIONAL SOCIAL INFLUENCE
  • ppt changed answers as they thought group estimate was more accurate
30
Q

What did ALLEN (1980) find?

A
  • intelligent and self-confident people less likely to conform
  • as they have more knowledge and confidence so don’t need to look to others
31
Q

What was ZIMBARDO ET AL (1973) aim?

A
  • investigate brutality in American prisons

- if it was due to guards sadistic personalities or influence of prison environment

32
Q

What was ZIMBARDOS (1973) procedure?

A
  • basement of psych department in standford uni
  • 21 male chosen from 75 ppts
  • paid to take part
  • randomly assigned to guard or prisoner
  • Zimbardo played prison superintendent
  • ppt arrested without warning
  • guards wore uniforms, mirrored sunglasses, handcuffs, keys, truncheons
  • prisoners wore smocks, nylon caps, addressed by their number
  • stopped after 6 days due to brutality
33
Q

What were ZIMBARDOS findings? (1973)

A
  • prisoners and guards settled quickly into their roles
  • guards become more sadistic and cruel
  • prisoners became more submissive and unquestioning of guards behaviour
  • prisoners showed de-individuation by calling eachother by their numbers
34
Q

What is a strength of ZIMBARDOS (1973) study?

A

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

  • Zimbardo argued his findings of conformity were shown in Iraq prison
  • believed the abuse was due to situational factors
  • lack of training, boredom, no accountability
35
Q

What is weakness of ZIMBARDOS (1973) study? (1)

A

CONFORMING TO SOCIAL ROLES NOT AUTOMATIC

  • guards behaviour varied from being sadistic to good guards
  • haslam and Reicher (2012) argued the guards chose how to behave
36
Q

What is weakness of ZIMBARDOS (1973) study? (2)

A

ECOLOGICAL VALIDITY

  • ppt conforming to social roles due to demand characteristics
  • cannot generalise and doesn’t tell us about conformity in real prisons

SOCIAL INFLUENCE (5 decks)

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