Conformity

Question 1

What is social influence?

Answer 1

How people affect one another, including changes in attitude, beliefs, feelings and behaviours resulting from the comments, actions, or even mere presence of others.

Question 2

What is conformity?

Answer 2

Conformity – Change in beliefs, opinions and behaviours as a result of explicit or implicit pressure (real or imagined) from others.
(Doing as others do)

Question 3

What is compliance?

Answer 3

Responding favourably to an explicit request by another person. (Do as others want)

Question 4

What is obedience?

Answer 4

In an unequal power relationship, submitting to the demands of the person in authority. (Do as others command)

Question 5

What is an example of everyday conformity?

Answer 5

We often adopt the actions and attitudes of the people around us
E.g. fashion trends such as hairstyles and how people dress.

Question 6

What is automic mimicry?

Answer 6

• Sometimes our beliefs and behaviours become more similar to those around us in a spontaneous and automatic sense, without any obvious intent of one person to change the other.

This happens without us necessarily knowing, on a continual basis in daily life. We are influenced by people around us in a very automatic sense and we often mimic what other people do.

Question 7

What was the method and findings for the evidence of automic mimicry?

Answer 7

Method
• Participants took part in two 10-minute sessions with a confederate
• Different confederate per session
o Confederate rubbed his/her face
o Confederate continuously shook his/her foot
• Participants were videotaped

Findings
• Participants mimicked the behaviour of the confederate
• Participants expressed noticing nothing unusual about the behaviour of the confederate

Question 8

What is meant by ideomotor action?

Answer 8

Phenomenon whereby merely thinking about a behaviour makes performing it more likely (James, 1890)
E.g. Thinking about typing the wrong letter on the keyboard makes us more prone to typing that letter (Wegner, 1994)

Question 9

Why do we mimicry?

Answer 9

• People prefer those who mimic their actions, in comparison to those who do not, even when unaware that mimicking is taking place (Chartrand & Bargh, 1999)
• We expect people to mimic us, and can deplete self-regulatory resources when they do not (Dalton et al., 2010)

Question 10

Describe Sherif’s (1935) Autokinetic Effect Experiment

Answer 10

• Aim: demonstrate that people conform to group norms when they are put in an ambiguous situation
• Method: utilised the autokinetic effect – a visual illusion whereby the absence of reference points makes a stationary light appear to move.
• Participants were presented with the light on a number of trials, and estimated how much the light moved
• Participants were tested both alone, as well as in a group across several days

Question 11

What were the findings of Sherif’s (1935) Autokinetic Effect Experiment?

Answer 11

In an individual-to-group setting, the participants started with personal norm, but in groups they converged to a group norm.

In the group-to-individual setting, the participants converged to a group norm and when alone used the group norm as a personal guide.

Question 12

What is informational social influence?

Answer 12

Change in opinions or behaviour that occurs when we conform to people who we believe have accurate information.

Question 13

When does informational social influence occur?

Answer 13

• When in ambiguous situations (such as the autokinetic effect experiment), people look to others for guidance (i.e. adopt a group norm)
• Occurs especially when there is uncertainty about how to behave and/or what is correct

Question 14

What is meant by misperceived norms and give an example

Answer 14

• On some occasions we may misperceive norms when deciding how to behave.
• Example: excessive drinking
• Students typically overestimate the descriptive norm for college student drinking, which predicts how much they personally drink (Bosari & Carey, 2003; neighbours et al., 2007; Perkins et al., 2005)
• Providing students with accurate information regarding drinking norms reduces excessive drinking (Burger et al., 2011; Neighbours et al., 2009)

Question 15

What was the method for Asch’s (1951) Conformity Experiment?

Answer 15

• Male college students participating in a study on testing visual abilities’
• Series of trials whereby participants had to match up a single line to another line of the same length
• Confederates on the first two trials provide the correct answer, but on the third and 11 other trials were instructed to all provide the same incorrect answer

Question 16

What were the findings for Asch’s (1951) Conformity Experiment?

Answer 16

• 75% gave at least one incorrect response when it was their turn
• 37% of the overall responses were conforming
• Large variation: 25% never conformed; 5% conformed on all trials

Question 17

Why did some participants conform and others didn’t in Asch’s (1951) Conformity Experiment?

Answer 17

Why did participants conform?
• All reported experiencing uncertainty and self-doubt
• Some believed that the majority were wrong, but went along to avoid being ridiculed
• Some believed that the majority must be right, as they were the only one to see the task differently

Why did participants not conform?
• Some felt entirely confident in their own judgement
• Some felt emotionally affected but guided by a belief in individualism

Question 18

What is a descriptive norm an how can they influence our behaviour?

Answer 18

Perception of what most people do in a given situation (Cialdini et al., 1990).

These descriptive norms influence behaviour by becoming a reference point for how we should behave.

Question 19

What were the conditions of the Modified Asch Experiment Deutsch and Gerarrd (1955)?

How did they manipulate the uncertainty?

Answer 19

• Face-to-face: participants with three confederates who make incorrect judgements
• Face-to-face and group goal: provided explicit group goal to be as accurate as possible (makes the thought of social disapproval even more fearful)
• Private and anonymous: isolated in cubicle and answer privately, lights would flash up to display answer of other confederates (answers were anonymous so there was no fear of social disapproval)

Uncertainty manipulation
• Half the participants respond while the stimuli were present
• Half respond when the stimuli is removed (more uncertain scenario to make a judgement as you can’t check back on the stimuli)

Question 20

What were the findings of the Modified Asch Experiment Deutsch and Gerarrd (1955)?

Answer 20

• Decreasing uncertainty and decreasing group pressure reduced conformity
• People still conformed 23% even when uncertainty was low, and responses were private and anonymous

The 23% who still conformed might be because participants weren’t entirely convinced that it was an anonymous experiment. Nonetheless, the trend is going towards the participants private opinion having a lower conformity .

Question 21

What is normative social influence?

Answer 21

A process where people conform to avoid disapproval and other social sanctions (rejection, isolation)

Question 22

What is the difference between informational social influence and normative social influence?

Answer 22

In informational social influence, people believe what others say and internalise it, it involves a real opinion change. Whereas, with normative social influence, people conform on the outside but not on the inside and the change is superficial (i.e., there is no change to private opinion)

Question 23

What are situational factors affecting conformity?

Answer 23

• Group size
• Group unanimity
• Expertise and status

Question 24

How, and to what extent does group size affect conformity?

Answer 24

As the group increases, conformity increases. In replications of Asch’s experiment there were a varied number of confederates. Larger group sizes led to participants being more likely to give incorrect answer.

The effect of group size diminishes as the group grows larger. It reaches a point where the effect tapers off and adding an extra confederate doesn’t really yield a higher sense of conformity. The situational pressure has then reached its peak.

Question 25

How does group unanimity affect conformity?

Answer 25

• Consistency or unanimity of the group members are even more important than group size
• When even one confederate gives the correct answer, conformity rates dropped to 5%
• Conformity is reduced even when the dissenting confederate gives a different wrong answer
• The presence of an ‘ally’ weakens both informational social influence (“Maybe I’m not crazy after all”) and normative social influence (“At least I’ve got someone to stand by me”)

Question 26

How does expertise and status affect conformity?

Answer 26

• Expertise primarily affects informational social influence. Experts are more likely to be right, so we take their opinions more seriously
• Status mainly affects normative social influence. We care more about high-status people think about us

Question 27

When does majority and minority influence occur?

Answer 27

Majority influence occurs when the beliefs, attitudes and values held by the larger number of individuals in the current group prevail.

Minority influence occurs when the beliefs held by the smaller number of individuals in the current social group prevail.

Question 28

What’s the difference between a descriptive and social norm?

Answer 28

A descriptive norm is what you think other people generally do. A social norm is what is acceptable or not acceptable. In society when we validate beliefs about what is good and what is bad and what is moral and immoral.

Question 29

Name a few individual differences that impact levels of conformity.

Answer 29

• Low self-esteem (Stang, 1972)
• High need for social approval (Strickland & Crowne, 1962)
• Low IQ (Crutchfield, 1955)
• High anxiety (Crutchfield, 1955)
• Feelings of inferiority/low status (Raven & French, 1958)

Question 30

How do cultural differences impact conformity (Bond and Smith 1996)?

Answer 30

Bond and Smith (1996) – analysed results of 133 studies that had used Asch’s line judging task in 17 different countries
• Conformity was greater in more collectivistic than individualistic countries E.g. westernised countries is individualistic and Japanese culture is collectivistic (They’re self-effacing and being praised for individual success is embarrassing)

Question 31

How do cultural differences impact conformity (Kim and Markus 1999)?

Answer 31

• Americans (vs. East Asian) more likely to pick ‘unique’ pen choice
• American vs Korean magazine themes
• Korean magazines have less uniqueness as a way of advertising and appeals to collectivistic values

Question 32

What is psychological reactance?

Answer 32

• A strong motivational state that resists social influence (Brehm, 1966; Miron & Brehm, 2006)
• Reactance is aroused when our ability to choose which behaviours to engage in is eliminated or threatened with elimination, and we lose a sense of freedom and autonomy

When given an order, it can threaten our sense of freedom or autonomy and abililty to be an individual/ choose to make our own decisions. (e.g. “Don’t mute me” and then they mute him in the online lecture)

Question 33

How can social influence have a positive effect?

Answer 33

Social influence can have positive effects upon people’s choice to reduce energy consumption (Schultz et al., 2007), eat healthier foods and lifestyle choices (Burger et al., 2010; Burger & Shelton, 2011), reuse towels at hotels (Goldstein et al., 2008), reduce littering (Cialdini et al., 1990).

Question 34

How can social influence have a detrimental effect?

Answer 34

Social influence can also have detrimental effects such as with health choices like smoking or drinking (Krosnick & Judd, 1982; Stacy et al., 1992; Wood et al., 2001), and increase littering (Cialdini et al., 1990)

Question 35

What was the method Moscovici et al. (1969) blue/green study about minority influence?

Answer 35

• Cover story – study concerned colour perception
• Shown 36 blue slides (in various shades) and asked to state colour out loud
• There was a minority (2) groups of confederates, the majority were the participants

• The confederates were instructed to either:
o Consistent-minority condition: confederates gave unusual response (green) on every trial
o Inconsistent-minority condition: confederates gave the unusual response (green) on two-thirds of trials

Question 36

What was the findings of Moscovici et al. (1969) blue/green study about minority influence?

Answer 36

Presence of a minority who gave consistently unusual responses influenced judgements of participants
• 32% of participants said green at least once
• 18% of responses overall said green

Minority influence was only occurring when the confederates were consistently saying that the colour was green. When they were inconsistent with their opinion, they had almost no effect on people’s opinion.

Question 37

What is the influence of minorities on conformity?

Answer 37

• Minorities can have influence over majorities, provided they give consistent, unanimous responses

• They are able to produce a strong and lasting attitude change – true private acceptance – rather than simple public compliance
o People conform to minorities because they think that they’re right, not because they think it’s socially acceptable

• Presence of minority groups can lead to majority groups engaging in more fuller, divergent and creative thinking about topics
• However, minority influence is strongest when it’s consistent but not rigid or inflexible about beliefs

Question 38

What was the method for Nemeth & Kwan (1987) experiment for showing how minorities influence creativity?

Answer 38

• Participants worked in groups of four on a creativity task
• Presented with letter strings (e.g. tdoge) – asked to indicate what word came to mind first as they looked at the letters

• All participants actually identified the obvious word (e.g., dog), but were instead told
o 3 of the group members had also reported seeing dog, and that 1 had reported seeing god (minority)
o 3 out of the four had reported seeing god, whereas only 1 had seen dog (majority)

• Subsequently completed another set of word strings on their own

Question 39

What were the findings for Nemeth & Kwan (1987) experiment for showing how minorities influence creativity?

Answer 39

• Participants in the minority condition found more words, using various different strategies (e.g., forward, backward and random sequencing)
• Participants in the majority condition primarily stuck to the backward sequencing strategy

Question 40

What was the method for Nemeth & Brilmayer (1987) study about the flexibility of minority influence?

Answer 40

• Compensation for ski-lift injury. All participants pre-tested so that they matched with other participants who indicated similar level of payout

• Groups of 4, 1 participant was a confederate who was instructed to either
o Remain consistent with opinion throughout ($50k)
o Compromise early ($50k - $100k)
o Compromise late ($50k - $100k)

• After deliberating, participants in private indicated their level of compensation, and were also asked to make decisions on similar cases

Question 41

What were the findings in Nemeth & Brilmayer (1987) study about the flexibility of minority influence?

Answer 41

• Both early/late compromise were more effective at inducing public concession
• Consistent/late compromise were more effective at inducing private change

When the minority was consistent and they never compromised, it didn’t affect people’s opinion. Shows that rigid opinions are ineffective at influencing people. In the early/late compromise conditions, people were converging more to the minority influence.

Early compromise led to a superficial change on the ski case there was a change in opinion but with the similar cases it didn’t lead to a genuine attitude change. Perhaps because it seemed like those who compromised early didn’t feel confident or strong in their opinion. In comparison, the consistent and late compromise led to a genuine attitude change.