//Explanations for conformity

Question 1

Deutsch and Gerard (1955)

Answer 1

• distinguished between ISI and NSI

- they believed this distinction was crucial to understanding majority group influence

Question 2

What is informational social influence

Answer 2

• when someone conforms because they do not know what to do, and is based on a need to be right
• they seek information to reduce uncertainty
• look to others for guidance
• tends to involve internalisation

Question 3

What is normative social influence

Answer 3

• altering behaviour to fit the expectations of others
• need to be liked or accepted
• person may conform publically but at a private level may disagree
• tends to involve compliance

Question 4

Research for NSI?

Answer 4

Asch study

Question 5

Research for ISI?

Answer 5

Sherif study

Question 6

Evaluation of explanation of conformity

Answer 6

• some factors that increase or decrease ISI/NSI have been indentified
• it is not clear whether the effects of any given factor are due to NSI, ISI or a combination of both-no way of telling which is present. We often look to others because we do not want to be different
• assumes that NSI would be extremely common as it occurs whenever individuals seek social acceptance
• William and Sogans (1984) found much more conformity when the other group members were friends that strangers

Question 7

What factors affect conformity

Answer 7

Situational and dispositional factors-situational are due to the social situation a person is in, whereas dispositional factors are due to the person’s internal characteristics. Asch investigated three situational factors

Question 8

Situational factors investigated by Asch-group size

Answer 8

• the bigger the majority is, the more influential it will be
• to test this, Asch (1956) conducted his conformity experiemtn with different numbers of confederates as the majority
• with only 2 confederates, the real pp conformed on only 14% of the critical trials
• with 3 confederates, conformity was 32%
• very small majorities are easier to resist than alrger ones-however influence doesn’t keep increasing with the size of the majority

Question 9

Situational factors investigated by Asch-unanimity/social support

Answer 9

• Asch ran another version of his experiment to test the effect of having a supporter in the group
• rather than the confederates forming a unanimous majority, one of the confederated agreed with the participant
• having a fellow dissenter broke the unanimity of the group, which made it easier for the pp to resist the pressure to conform-conformity rate fell to 5.5%

Question 10

Situational factors investigated by Asch-task difficulty

Answer 10

• when Asch made the task more difficult by making the lines more similar, conformity levels increased
• people are more likely to conform if they’re less confident that they’re correct

Question 11

Dispositional factors affecting conformity-confidence and expertise

Answer 11

• Asch debreifed his pps-found that confidence was a factor in the people who hadn’t conformed
• if someone felt confident in their judgements, they were more able to resist group pressure
• Wisenthal et al (1976) found that if people felt competent in a task, they were less likely to conform

Question 12

Dispositional factors affecting conformity-gender

Answer 12

-Eagly (1987) argued that men and women’s different social roles explain the difference in conformity-women more concerend with group harmoney and are nmore likely to agree with others