Conformity-Types and explanations Flashcards
3 types of conformity
Kelman (1958)
- internalisation
- identification
- compliance
internalisation
Private and public acceptance of group norms, when a person genuinely accepts the group norms
identification
Changing behaviour to be part of a group we identify with, even if we don’t privately agree with it
compliance
Go along with a group publicly but no private change
Explanations for conformity
Deutsch and Gerard (1955)- Argue that there are two main reasons why people conform. The need to be right (ISI) and the need to be liked (NSI)
Informational social influence
Agree with the opinion of the majority because we believe is correct, we accept because we want to be correct as well, assume others know better than us
Normative social influence
We agree with the opinion of the majority because we want to be accepted, gain social approval and be liked
Research support for ISI
Lucas (2006)- Asked students to give answers to mathematical problems that were easier or more difficult, there was a higher conformity to incorrect maths answers when they were difficult shows that people conform in situations where they feel they don’t know the answer
Individual differences in NSI
Research shows that NSI does not affect everyone’s behaviour in the same way. People who are less concerned with being liked or less affected by NSI than those who care more about being liked, such people are described as nAffilliators. McGhee and Teevan (1967) found that students high in need of affiliation were more likely to conform
ISI and NSI work together
Sometimes both processes are involved for example, conformity was reduced when there was one other dissenting participant in the asch experiment, this dissenter may reduce the power of NSI because the dissenter provides social support or may reduce the power of ISI because there was an alternate source of information
Individual differences in ISI
ISI doesn’t affect everyone in the same way asch found that students were less conformist 28% than other participants 38%. Perrin and Spencer conducted a study and found very little conformity
Research support for NSI
Ash found that many of his participants went along with a clearly wrong answer just because other people did, he asked them why they did this some said they felt self-conscious giving the correct answer and they were afraid of disapproval when asch repeated his study but asked participants to write down their answers instead of saying them out loud conformity rates fell to 12.5%
