D Mock - Conformity

Question 1

What are examples of conformity? Give 3

Answer 1

Asch’s study
Buying choices (food orders, clothing)
Social media trends followed
Family views, beliefs, or behaviour
Nodding along when you don’t understand in lesson

Question 2

What is conformity?

Answer 2

The process of yielding to majority influence.
Myers (1999) defines it as when a person changes their attitude or behaviour due to ‘real’ or ‘imagined’ group pressure.

Question 3

According to Kerman (1958) there are 3 levels of conformity.
What are they called?

Answer 3

Compliance
Identification
Internalisation

Question 4

What is compliance in conformity?
What might this be a result of?

Answer 4

Publicly conforming to the behaviours or views of others but privately maintaining one’s own view.
This might be a result of NSI

Question 5

What is Identification in conformity?

Answer 5

Adopting the views or behaviours of a group both publicly and privately, because you value membership of that group (identify with them).
However, this is only temporary and not maintained on leaving the group.

Question 6

What is Internalisation in conformity?
What might this be a result of?

Answer 6

This is where there is a real change of private views to match those of the group.
This might be a result of ISI

Question 7

Types of conformity: COMPLIANCE

Does public behaviour change?
Does private belief change?
Short or long term?

Answer 7

Does public behaviour change? Yes
Does private belief change? No
Short or long term? Short

Question 8

Types of conformity: IDENTIFICATION
Does public behaviour change?
Does private belief change?
Short or long term?

Answer 8

Does public behaviour change? Yes
Does private belief change? Yes
Short or long term? Short in group presence

Question 9

Types of conformity: INTERNALISATION
Does public behaviour change?
Does private belief change?
Short or long term?

Answer 9

Does public behaviour change? Yes
Does private belief change? Yes
Short or long term? Long (semi- permanent)

Question 10

What is Normative Social Influence?
Why?

Answer 10

Conforming to be accepted and belong to a group.
Why? Socially rewarding, avoid punishment

Question 11

What is Informational social influence?
Why?

Answer 11

Conforming to gain knowledge and be ‘right’.
Why To act appropriately, to avoid standing out.

Question 12

L____ et al (2006) is an example of research support for ISI (Informational Social Influence).
He asked students to give answers to mathematical problems that were easy or more difficult.
There was greater conformity to incorrect answers when they were difficult.
This was most true for students who rather their mathematical ability as poor.
This shows how people will conform when they are on situations where they don’t know the answer, supporting ISI.

Answer 12

Lucas

Question 13

There are ___________ differences in the explanations for ISI and NSI. They don’t affect everyone’s behaviour in the same way.
For example, Asch found that students were less conformist than other types of people.
Also, people who are less concerned about being liked are ____ likely to conform than those who are concerned about this.

Answer 13

individual
less

Question 14

There is support for the NSI explanation.
Asch found that when asking his participants why they conformed, they said this was due to not wanting to be disapproved of or disliked by the group, supporting NSI.
Asch found that in a variation where participants could write down their answers instead of saying them aloud, conformity dropped to __._%.

Answer 14

12.5%

Question 15

Sherif (1935) researched conformity as well as Asch.
It studied internalisation/ informational influence.
This study investigated…

Answer 15

… the emergence of group norms using the autokinetic effect (an optical illusion where a light in a totally dark room appears to move).

Question 16

What did participants need to do in the study into conformity by Sherif (1935)?

Answer 16

Each participant was given a series of trials and asked to judge how far the light moved. They were then placed in groups of three and asked to announce their estimates aloud.

Question 17

What did the Sherif (1935) study find out about internalisation/ informational influence?

Answer 17

When participants were tested individually, they gave very similar estimates each time they were asked,
However, between the participants, there was considerable variation.
When the same participants worked in groups of three, their estimates converged until a group norm emerged.

The study showed that when faced with an ambiguous situation, the participants looked to others in the group for guidance, i.e. they experienced informational influence.

Question 18

Why did Asch argue that the experiment didn’t test for true conformity (I.e. there is an informational influence rather than just compliance)?

Answer 18

Sherif’s autokinetic effect was an ambiguous task where there was no clear right or wrong answer. Because of this, Sherif’s subjects may have experienced an informational influence.

Question 19

Why was Sherif (1935) criticised for lacking external validity?

Answer 19

The laboratory setting is unnatural, and the task itself is not something people would normally be asked to do.