explanations for conformity

Question 1

what are the 2 explanations for conformity

Answer 1

ISI
NSI

Question 2

what is informational social influence

Answer 2

• internalisation is often the result of ISI
• when an individual lacks knowledge and is unsure in an ambiguous situation so looks to the group for guidance + assumes the group is right and that they have superior knowledge to then

Question 3

evidence to support ISI 1/3

Answer 3

Asch: some participants genuibly believed they misunderstood the task and therefore believed the majority was right. as task difficulty gets harder so does rate of conformity due to ISI.

Question 4

evidence to support ISI 2/3

Answer 4

Jenness 1932 :ambigious situation involving a glass bottle filled with beans. participant individual estimate, then group estimate, then another individual estimate. nearly all changed their answers due to ISI being nearer to the group estimate as they believed that was more likely to be right

Question 5

evidence to support ISI 2/3

Answer 5

Lucas 2006: math problems, the harder they were the more likely to conform as participants didn’t want to be wrong so they relied on answers given

Question 6

evidence limitating ISI

Answer 6

Perrin and spencer 1981: replicated Asch’s study but with British engineers and found a low conforming rate as engineers are used to making precise measurements and so are more confident in their ability.

Question 7

what is Normative social influence

Answer 7

• often a result of compliance
• when individual wishes to be accepted to be liked/respected/approved by the group
• when individual tried to fit in with the group norms to avoid rejection and conflict
• going along with the majority view even if we don’t agree with it and to avoid conflict we comply

Question 8

evident to support NSI 1/3

Answer 8

Asch: participants knew the right answer but gave the wrong answer so they didn’t stand out and to be rejected

Question 9

evidence to support NSI 2/3

Answer 9

schutz: after exposure to normative message that 75% hotel guests reuse towel, other hotel guests reduced their towel usage by 25% showing that people shape their behaviour to fit in with reference groups

Question 10

evidence to support NSI 3/3

Answer 10

Asch: when the answer is said outloud conformity = 37% when answer is written down conformity = 12.5% showing people gave the wrong answer in fear of rejection

Question 11

limitation of NSI 1/1

Answer 11

individual differences: some people are greatly concerned with being liked by others = nAffliators.
Mcghee and Teevan found that nAffiliator students were more likely to conform. shows a desire to be like underlines conformity for some people more than others

Question 12

evaluation of the dual-process dependency model

Answer 12

Both NSI and ISI worked together to influence the level of conformity +, which can’t be seen as separate explanations.
ASch: introducing dissenting participants reduces the power of NSI by providing social support but also ISI as it’s an alternative source of info.
showing it hard to determine which one is at work