Conformity types and explanations (AO3)

Question 1

NSI strength 1:

Answer 1

[Research support] - Asch (1951) found that many people would rather conform than give the correct answer, when participants wrote down answer conformity fell to 12.5% [this shows that some conformity is due to desire to not be rejected by a group]

Question 2

ISI strength 1:

Answer 2

[Research support] - Lucas et al (2006) found that people conformed incorrect answers more when the question was harder as it was more ambiguous, [this supports ISI as the results are what ISI predicts would happen]

Question 3

Counterpoint:

Answer 3

NSI and ISI are hard to separate and distinguish from each other in real-world situations, instead operating together

Question 4

NSI limitation 1:

Answer 4

[Individual differences] nAffiliators, they have a strong need to relate to other people. McGhee and Teevan (1967) found that students who were nAffiliators were more likely to conform , [this shows NSI underlies conformity more for some people than for others, an individual difference may not be explained by a theory of situational pressures]

Question 5

Evaluation

Answer 5

[Is NSI/ISI distinction useful?] - Lucas et al’s study shows distinction may not be useful because it is impossible to work out which is operating. However Asch’s research supports both ISI and NSI. Therefore overall both concepts are useful because they can be identified and used to explain the reasons for conformity in studies and in the real world.