Conformity and Obedience

Question 1

What is conformity?

Answer 1

a change in behaviour/belief as a result of real or imagined group pressure (adherence to a group)

Question 2

What is compliance?

Answer 2

conforming that involves publically acting in accord with an implied or explicit request while privately disagreeing

Question 3

What is obedience?

Answer 3

acting in accord with a direct order or command

Question 4

What is acceptance?

Answer 4

conformity that involves both acting and believing in accord with social pressure

Question 5

What are norms?

Answer 5

rules in a group that indicate how members should behave

Question 6

What is social influence?

Answer 6

process by which attitudes and behaviours are influenced (changed) by the presence of others

Question 7

What are collective delusions

Answer 7

spontaneous spreading of false beliefs (occasionally mass hysteria)

Question 8

What did Asch’s group pressure studies involve

Answer 8

judging which 3 comparitive lines matched the standard

Question 9

What breeds obedience?

Answer 9

distance from victim, closeness and legitimacy of authority, status of experimenter and proximity of experimenter, institutional authority, group loyalty, power of situation

Question 10

What predicts conformity?

Answer 10

group size (3-5), unamity, cohersion, status, public responce, prior commitment, personality, gender

Question 11

What is normative influence?

Answer 11

conformity based on a person’s desire to fulfill other’s expectations, often to gain acceptance (avoid rejection); often sways without awareness

Question 12

What is informational influence?

Answer 12

conformity occuring when people accept evidence of reality provided by other people (produced by desire to be correct)

Question 13

What is referent informational influence?

Answer 13

conformity occuring when normative and informational influences tied to each other and to self perceptions

Question 14

What is self categorisation?

Answer 14

identifying as one self as a gp member or an individual

Question 15

What is self-stereotyping?

Answer 15

unconscious changes in beliefs, emotions, and actions to conform to group stereotypes after self-categorisation and identification as member

Question 16

What is reactance?

Answer 16

a motive to protect and restore sense of freedom; arises when threat to freedom arises

Question 17

What is negative deviance?

Answer 17

nonconformity to group norms in the sense of not living up to standards or failing to follow rules

Question 18

What is positive deviance?

Answer 18

non conformity to group norms in the sense of greatly exceeding standards, setting example, role model

Question 19

What does dissent mean?

Answer 19

nonconformity to group norms, motivated by a desire to change or challenge the norms

Question 20

What can aid gaining compliance?

Answer 20

liking, friendship, consistency, commitment, reciprocity

Question 21

What are some of the criticisms of conformity research?

Answer 21

conformity bias, can’t explain social change, Asch’s (minority influence?)