Conformity - Social influence

Question 1

Conformity

Answer 1

Change in a persons behaviour or opinions as a result of real or imagined pressure from a person or group of people. A form of social influence.

Question 2

Who argued that we can distinguish between three types of conformity?

Answer 2

Kelman (1958)

Question 3

What are 3 types of conformity

Answer 3

Compliance
Internalisation
Identification

Question 4

Compliance

Answer 4

• individuals change behaviour, attitudes, views and beliefs in public so they align with the majority
• no change to privately held behaviour and attitudes, only when group is there
• a superficial and temporary form of conformity

Question 5

Internalisation

Answer 5

• individuals change behaviour, attitudes, views and beliefs in public so they align with the majority
• acceptance of groups views privately and publicly
• deeper and permanent form of conformity

Question 6

Indentification

Answer 6

• conforming to the opinions of a group due to a sense of value towards the group and want to be a part of it
• may agree with the group publicly and disagree privately
• moderate type of conformity

Question 7

Who developed the two-process theory for conformity?

Answer 7

Deutsch and Gerard (1955)

Question 8

What are the two reasons for conformity?

Answer 8

Informational social influence (ISI)
Normative social influence (NSI)

Question 9

Informational social influence (ISI)

Answer 9

• People conform because are unsure how to correctly respond or behave so they look to others for information
• drive for conformity is to be right
• most likely in ambiguous and complex situations, crises, or when others are the expert
• ISI is likely to lead to internalisation

Question 10

Normative social influence (NSI)

Answer 10

• People conform due to a fundamental need to be liked or accepted so people copy others to ‘fit in’
• most likely in situations with strangers when concerned about rejection
• NSI is likely to lead to compliance

Question 11

What are the strengths of the explanations for conformity?

Answer 11

Research support for both ISI and NSI

Question 12

What is the research support for ISI?

Answer 12

Lucas et al (2006)

Question 13

Lucas et al (2006)

Answer 13

Students gave answers to math problems of varying difficulty and found higher rates of conformity in more difficult math problems , especially for students who felt they had poor math skills. Supports ISI explanation

Question 14

What is the research support for NSI?

Answer 14

Asch (1951)

Question 15

Asch (1951)

Answer 15

Many of his participants went with the clearly wrong answer as others did because the participant feared rejection. Non ambiguous or difficult questions yet people still conformed due to NSI

Question 16

What are the weaknesses of the explanations of conformity?

Answer 16

• There are individual differences in NSI and ISI
• ISI and NSI may work together to explain conformity
• Supporting studies for NSI and ISI lack ecological validity

Question 17

What are the individual differences in NSI and ISI?

Answer 17

NSI explanation for conformity lacks population validity. nAffiliatiors are more likely to conform due to NSI and McGhee and Teevan (1967) study proved this.
ISI doesn’t affect everyone the same way. Asch (1955) found that students are not as conformist (28%) compared to other participants (37%)

Question 18

nAffiliators

Answer 18

people who have a greater need for affiliation

Question 19

What are the three main studies into conformity?

Answer 19

Jenness (1932), Sherif (1935) and Asch (1951)

Question 20

What was the aim of Jenness (1932) study?

Answer 20

To see if individuals will change their opinion in an ambiguous situation in response to a group discussion

Question 21

What was the method of the Jenness (1932) study?

Answer 21

Used a glass bottle with 811 white beans and had a sample of 26 students individually estimate how many there were. He then divided them into groups of three and asked for a group estimate and then separated them once again and saw if they changed their original answer.

Question 22

What were the results of the Jenness (1932) study?

Answer 22

nearly all participants changed their answer.
- On average by 256 beans for males
- On average by 382 beans for females
- Range of the group went from 1875 to 474, -75%

Question 23

What was the conclusion of the Jenness (1932) study?

Answer 23

Results suggest that individuals changed initial estimates due to ISI

Question 24

What was the aim of the Sherif (1935) study?

Answer 24

To demonstrate that people conform to group norms when in ambiguous situations

Question 25

What was the method of the Sherif (1935) study?

Answer 25

Part 1 - Lab experiment with the autokinetic effect, participants individually tested on how far the light moved and estimates varied. They were then tested in groups of 3 with 2 who had similar individual estimations and 1 different and they had to discuss
Part 2 - In groups they had to agree on an answer and then when they were taken away and asked individually, their answers were similar to the group norm showing internalisation

Question 26

Autokinetic effect

Answer 26

A small spot of light gets projected on a screen and it appears to move when in a dark room even though it is still, it’s a visual illusion.

Question 27

What were the results of the Sherif (1935) study?

Answer 27

Over numerous trials the group made a common estimate and the person whose estimate was different from the others would conform

Question 28

What was the conclusion of the Sherif (1935) study?

Answer 28

In an ambiguous situation a person will look to others for guidance as they want to do the right thing but lack information. This shows ISI

Question 29

What was the aim of the Asch (1951) study?

Answer 29

To investigate the extent to which social pressure from a majority could affect conformity in a non ambiguous situation

Question 30

What was the method of the Asch (1951) study?

Answer 30

Lab experiment with 123 male US undergraduates and informed them that it was a vision test with a line judgement task and put one real participant in a group of up to 8 confederates who had agreed to give purposefully wrong answers to see if the participant would conform

Question 31

What was the result of the Asch (1951) study?

Answer 31

35% of participants conformed in the critical trials. In the 12 critical trials 75% conformed at least and in the control group with no pressure of conformity, less than 1% gave the wrong answer

Question 32

What was the conclusion of the Asch (1951) study?

Answer 32

The participants went with the group to fit in showing that participants complied due to NSI

Question 33

What were the 3 variables studied by Asch?

Answer 33

Group size, Unanimity and Task difficulty

Question 34

What were the weaknesses of Asch’s study?

Answer 34

Lacked temporal validity, Lacked ecological validity, Lacked population validity, Caused ethical concerns

Question 35

Conformity to social roles

Answer 35

Conforming to the expectations of a particular social role and behaving in the expected manner

Question 36

What was the aim of the Zimbardo (1974) SPE study?

Answer 36

To investigate how readily people would conform to the roles of guard and prisoner in a role playing exercise that stimulated prison life.

Question 37

What was the method of the Zimbardo (1974) SPE study?

Answer 37

Converted the basement of Stanford University’s psychology building into a mock prison
- 24 male student volunteers (out of 75 volunteers), paid $15 a day.
- Randomly assigned to be a prisoner or guard, there were 10 prisoners and 11 guards.
- Prisoners arrested in their homes, taken to the local police station to be fingerprinted, photographed and booked
- Then taken to the “prison” where they were stripped, deloused and had their belongings removed.
- They were referred to by number only.

Question 38

What was the result of the Zimbardo (1974) SPE study?

Answer 38

Prisoners and guards quickly identified with their social roles. Prisoners tried to rebel but guards swiftly stopped it. Guards dehumanised prisoners, giving them tiring, useless tasks and this made the prisoners increasingly submissive. 5 of the prisoners left early and the experiment was ended on day 6.

Question 39

What was the conclusion of the Zimbardo (1974) SPE study?

Answer 39

People quickly conform to social roles even when it goes against their morals and that situational factors were largely responsible for the behaviour.

Question 40

What are the strengths of the Zimbardo (1974) SPE study?

Answer 40

Good control over variables
- participants selected were emotionally stable
- no experimenter bias as roles were randomly assigned
Relevance to Abu Ghraib
- Zimbardo argues that USA Military police were victims of conformity to social roles when abusing Iraqi prisoners

Question 41

What are the weaknesses of the Zimbardo (1974) SPE study?

Answer 41

Lack of research support
- Reicher and Haslam (2006) did the BBC prison study and found that prisoners developed a shared identity as a cohesive group and guards didn’t so prisoners eventually took control
Ethical issues
- Zimbardo played dual roles, researcher and superintendent so didn’t adequately support the participants
- deception and lack of informed consent regarding the prisoners getting arrested at their own homes