Conformity: Types And Explanation

Question 1

Define Internalisation.

Answer 1

• occurs when a person genuinely accepts the group norms (accepting majority views)
• usually permanent (becomes part of what the person thinks)
• results in private as well as a public change of opinions (even when the group is absent)

Question 2

Define Compliance

Answer 2

-simply ‘going along with others’ in public, but not privately changing personal opinions and/or behaviour.

-Superficial and Temporal type of Conformity
(Change in behaviour or opinions lasts when the group is around)

Question 3

Define Identification

Answer 3

• conform to opinions/behaviour of a group because there is something about the group we value
• we identify with the group so we want to be part of it
• publicly change our opinions/behaviour to be accepted by the group, even if we do not privately agree with everything the group stands for.

Question 4

What Is Conformity?

Answer 4

-‘A change in a person’s behaviour or oppinions as a result of real or imagined pressure from a person or group of people’ (-Aronson 2011)

Question 5

What Is Meant By Informational Social Influence (ISI)?

Answer 5

-an Explanation of Conformity:
we agree with the opinion of the Majority because we believe it is correct

• we accept it because we want to be correct as well
• ISI is about who has the better information

Question 6

Informational Social Influence (ISI) May Lead To ?

Answer 6

Internalisation

-permanent change in opinion or behaviour

Question 7

What Type Of Process is Informational Social Influence (ISI)?

Answer 7

Cognitive Process

-it is to do with what you think

Question 8

When Is ISI More Likely To Occur/Happen?

Answer 8

• in situations that are new to the person (you do not know what is right)
• where there some ambiguity (it is not clear what is right)
• in crisis situations where decisions have to be made quickly and we assume that the group is more likely to be right/correct

Question 9

What Is Meant By Normative Social Influence (NSI)?

Answer 9

-an Explanation of Conformity:
we agree with the opinion of the majority because we want to gain social approval and be liked

• NSI is about norms, i.e. what is ‘normal’ or typical behaviour for the social group.
• (people do not like to appear foolish and prefer to gain social approval, rather than to be rejected)

Question 10

Normative Social Influence (NSI) May Lead To?

Answer 10

Compliance

-temporary change in opinions or behaviour

Question 11

What Type Of Process Is Normative Social Influence (NSI)?

Answer 11

an Emotional Process

-people do not like to appear foolish and prefer to gain social approval, rather than to be rejected

Question 12

When Is NSI Most Likely To Occur?

Answer 12

• with strangers where you may feel concerned about rejection
• to gain social approval from friends or people you know
• in stressful situations if in greater need of social support

Question 13

Explain One Positive Evaluation For Conformity.

Asch Study

Answer 13

+Research Support For NSI:
Evidence supports NSI as an explanation of conformity.
For example, in the ‘Asch Study’, some interviewed participants said they conformed because they felt self conscious giving the correct answer and were afraid of disproval.
When they wrote their answers privately, Conformity fell to 12.5% (no normative pressure group)

Question 14

Explain One Advantage Evaluation For Conformity.

Lucas et al

Answer 14

+Research Support For ISI:
Evidence to support ISI from the study by ‘Lucas et al’.
The Study found that participants conformed more often to incorrect answers when maths problems were difficult.
This is because the participants knew the answers when the questions were easy but when they became hard, the situation became ambiguous. They did not want to be wrong and relied on the answers they were given.

Question 15

Explain One Disadvantage For Explanations of Conformity.

Asch Study

Answer 15

-It is unclear whether it is NSI or ISI at work in research studies (or in real life).
-the ‘Asch’ found that conformity is reduced when there is one other dissenting (difference in opinion).
>The dissenter may reduce the power of NSI because of they provide social support
>Or they may reduce the power of ISI because they provide an alternative source of information.

Both interpretations are possible.

Question 16

Explain One Negative Evaluation For Explanations Of Conformity.

Answer 16

-Individual Differences In NSI
NSI does not predict conformity in every case.
Some people are ‘nAffiliators’- they have a strong need for affiliation and are greatly concerned with being liked by others.
-A study in 1967 found out that students who are nAffiliators were more likely to conform.
-Individual Differences in conformity cannot be fully explained by one general theory of situational pressure.