explanations for conformity

Question 1

Define ‘conformity’.

Answer 1

A change in a person’s behaviour or opinions as a result of a real or imagined pressure from a person or a group of people.

Question 2

Name the 3 types of conformity.

Answer 2

1. Compliance
2. Identification
3. Internalisation

Question 3

Define ‘compliance’.

Answer 3

A person changes their behaviour but not their private beliefs - this is often a short term change that only occurs in the presence of the group.

Question 4

Give an example of ‘compliance’.

Answer 4

An individual may claim to like a certain type of music when amongst their peers to fit in.

Question 5

Define ‘identification’.

Answer 5

An individual changes their public behaviour and their private beliefs, but only while in the presence of the group, meaning that this is often a short term change.

Question 6

Give an example of ‘identification.’

Answer 6

An individual may become vegitarian because all of his flatmates are vegetarians, but when away from the them he may still eat meat.

Question 7

Define ‘internalisation.’

Answer 7

An individual changes their public behaviour and their private beliefs - this is often a long term change that the individual will continue even when they are away from the pressure of the group.

Question 8

Give an example of ‘internalisation’.

Answer 8

An individual may convert to a particular faith, and will continue in this faith even when they are away from the group.

Question 9

What theory did Deutsch and Gerard (1955) develop? What did they argue? What was it based on?

Answer 9

• A two process theory.
• Arguing there are two main reasons people conform.
• Based on two central human needs: the need to be right and the need to be liked.

Question 10

What does NSI stand for?

Answer 10

Normative Social Influence

Question 11

What does ISI stand for?

Answer 11

Informational Social Influence

Question 12

What is meant by the term ‘normative social influence’?

Answer 12

• When a person conforms to be accepted or to belong to a group.
• To do with ‘norms’ meaning what is normal or typical behaviour of a social group.
• A person conforms because it is socially rewarding or to avoid social punishment e.g being mocked for not fitting in.

Question 13

What sort of process is NSI?

Answer 13

Emotional

Question 14

What 2 types of conformity is NSI associated with?

Answer 14

1. Compliance
2. Identification

Question 15

What is meant by the term ‘informational social influence’?

Answer 15

• When a person conforms to gain knowledge or because they believe someone else is right.
• An individual follows a group in this situation because they want to be right.

Question 16

What sort of process is ISI?

Answer 16

Cognitive - to do with what we think.

Question 17

Give an example of NSI.

Answer 17

All of your friends are buying a certain kind of jeans, and so you buy them to fit in, even though you don’t really like the style.

Question 18

Give an example of ISI.

Answer 18

If all your classmates choose answer A, you may also choose answer A because you want to be right.

Question 19

Name a strength of ISI.

Answer 19

Research Support

Question 20

Sumarise the reserach support for ISI.

Answer 20

• Lucas et al asked students to answer mathematical problems and found that conformity to incorrect answers were higher when the questions were difficult than when they were easy; this was most true for students who rated their maths ability as poor.
• This shows that people conform in situations where they don’t know the answer, as they assume others must be right.
• This supports ISI as it shows individuals conform as they want to be right.

Question 21

What is a strength of both ISI and NSI?

Answer 21

Asch’s Research Support

Question 22

Summarise Asch’s research support for ISI and NSI.

Answer 22

• Investigated if individuals would conform to the group even when they knew the group was incorrect.
• 75% of participants conformed at least once, with an average of 37% conformity on each critical trial.
• After the experiment, Asch interviewed participants to find out why they conformed.
• Some participants conformed because they did not want to be rejected by the group (NSI) whilst others conformed because they believed the group was right and they were wrong (ISI).
• This study provides evidence or the idea that people will conform to the group to be right or to fit in, supporting both ISI and NSI as explanations.

Question 23

What is a limitation for NSI and ISI?

Answer 23

Individual Differences

Question 24

Summarise individual differences in NSI.

Answer 24

• There are individual differences in how people behave.
• Research shows that people who are less concerned about being liked are less affected by NSI than those that care more about being liked; known as ‘nAffilliators’.
• ‘nAfffilliators’ have a greater need for ‘affilliation’, a need for being a relationship with others and are therefore more likely to conform.
• Therefore, individual differences affect how people respond to NSI and therefore how likely they are to conform, which this explanations of conformity does not account for.

Question 25

Summarise individual differences in ISI.

Answer 25

• There are individual differences in how people behave.
• Perrin and Spencer (1980) used science and engineering students in an experiment and found low levels of conformity.
• As these students were experts in this field, it is possible that they were confident that they were right when completing a task, meaning that they would not look to anybody else for guidance.
• Therefore, the ISI explanation for conformity is limited as it does not apply to all individuals in all situations, where an individual may be an expert for example, meaning that it cannot explain fully why people conform.

Question 26

What is meant by the ISI and NSI working together?

Answer 26

• The 2 process model approach suggests that behaviour is either due to the NSI or the ISI, when in fact, quite often both processes are involved.
• Asch carried out and found that conformity reduced when someone else disagreed with the group as well as the participant. It was unlcear however, if this was because it may reduce the power of the NSI; because the dissenter provided social support, or because it may reduce the power of the ISI; because there is another source of information.
• Therefore, it’s not always possible to tell whether it is NSI or ISI, or a combination of both at work when an individual conforms.
• This means that the 2 process approach to explainingconformity is limited as reasearch suggests the 2 processes are not separate like the theory suggests.