Conformity- types and explanations (social influence)

Question 1

What are the three types of conformity?

Answer 1

• Internalisation
• Identification
• Compliance

Question 2

What is internalisation?

Answer 2

• deepest form of conformity
• take the majority view because we accept it as correct
• permanent change in behaviour-even when group is absent

Question 3

What is identification?

Answer 3

• moderate type of conformity
• act in same way as group - value it- want to be part of it
• don’t agree with everything majority believes

Question 4

What is compliance?

Answer 4

• shallowest type of conformity- superficial and temporary
• outwardly go along with majority view- privately disagree
• change in belief/behaviour only when group is present

Question 5

What are the two explanations of conformity?

Answer 5

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

Question 6

What is informational social influence?

Answer 6

• based on our desire to be right
• we look to others we believe to be correct, to give us information about how we should behave
• particularly in ambiguous (unclear) situations
• another factor is the presence of someone with known expertise or knowledge- more likely to follow their behaviour- seen as knowing more/more knowledge

Question 7

What is normative social influence ?

Answer 7

• based on our desire to fit in
• we conform because we think that others will approve of and accept us

Question 8

Evaluation for Explanations of Conformity

Research Support for NSI

Answer 8

P- Research support normative social influence- Asch (1951) found that many of his participants went along with a clearly wrong answer just because other people did.

E- He asked them why they did this. Some of the participants said they felt self conscious giving the correct answer and they were afraid of disapproval. When Asch repeated this study to write down their answers instead of saying them out loud. Conformity rates fell to 12.5% as they felt less self conscious ( less of a need to fit in).

L- This is a strength because it shows that concern for social approval is a key driver in conformity.

Question 9

Evaluation for Explanations of Conformity

Individual differences for NSI

Answer 9

P- NSI does not affect everyone’s behaviour in the same way