Explanations for conformity

Question 1

What is informational social influence and when is it common?

Answer 1

A motivational force to look to others for guidance in order to be correct - common in unfamiliar situations as person is uncertain about what to believe and do so look to the opinions of others to become converted to their viewpoint

Question 2

What study supports informational social influence?

Answer 2

Jenness (1932) and the jelly beans

Question 3

What is normative social influence and when is it common?

Answer 3

A motivational force to be liked and accepted by a group - individuals want to be liked and respected so especially common with people the person knows (however people may say they agree without actually believing this)

Question 4

What study supports normative social influence?

Answer 4

Asch (1955) and the lines

Question 5

What did Jenness’ study in 1932 and what was the study?

Answer 5

The role of discussion in changing opinion regarding a matter of fact - investigated whether individual judgements of jellybeans in a jar were influenced by discussion in groups

Question 6

What was Jenness’ procedure?

Answer 6

Participants made individual, private estimates of the number of jellybeans in a jar
Participants then discussed their estimates either in a large group or in several small groups - discovering that individuals were widespread in their estimates
After discussion group estimates were made
Participants then made a second private estimation

Question 7

What were the findings of Jenness’ study and why was the study important?

Answer 7

Typicality of opinion was increased - individuals’ second private estimation tended to converge their group estimates
The average change of opinion was greater among females (women conform more)
Provided evidence for ISI - when unsure - people look to others for guidance

Question 8

What were the conclusions of Jenness’ study?

Answer 8

Judgements of individuals are affected by majority opinions, especially in ambiguous or unfamiliar situations
Discussion is not effective unless the individuals who enter the discussion become aware that the opinions of others are different from theirs

Question 9

What does the Jenness study link with?

Answer 9

Compare with Asch (1955) and Arai (2010)

Question 10

What is the evaluation of Jenness’ experiment?

Answer 10

Didn’t tell the participants what the aims of the study were (incase they acted differently) - however deception was minimal
Lab experiment (artificial situation - lacks mundane realism so doesn’t reflect everyday life
Tells us little about majority influence in non-ambiguous situations where people conform to obviously wrong answers(Asch)
May involve NSI as well as it included discussion may have moved towards group estimate to be accepted rather than correct

Question 11

What was Asch’s study about and what was his aim?

Answer 11

Opinions and social pressure

Wanted to investigate the degree to which individuals would conform to a majority who gave obviously wrong answers

Question 12

What was Asch’s procedure?

Answer 12

123 American male students volunteered to take part in what they thought was a visual perception study
Individual participants placed in groups with 7-9 others (confederates)
Task was to say whether like A,B or C was the same as the stimulus line on 18 different trials. 12 of these were ‘critical trials’ where the confederated gave identical wrong answers and the real participant always answered last or second to last
Also a control group of 36 participants where they were tested individually on 20 trials to test how accurate individual judgements were

Question 13

What were the results of Asch’s experiment?

Answer 13

Control group had an error rate of 0.04% which shows how obvious the correct answers were
On the 12 critical trials there was a 32% conformity rate to the wrong answer
75% of participants conformed to at least one wrong answer
5% conformed on all wrong answers

Question 14

In Asch’s post experiment interviews what reasons did participants give for conforming to wrong answers?

Answer 14

They wished to avoid ridicule - distortion of action
They believed they must in some way have been wrong - distortion of perception
They doubted their accuracy in judgement - distortion of judgement

Question 15

What conclusions were drawn from Asch’s experiment?

Answer 15

Judgements of individuals are affected by majority opinions even when the majority are obviously wrong
Big individual differences as to which people are affected b majority influence
Most participants conformed publically not privately suggesting that they were motivated by normative social influence

Question 16

What others studies does Asch’s link to?

Answer 16

Jenness’ 1932 and the jelly beans

Contemporary version by Mori and Arai 2012

Question 17

What is a strength of Asch’s study?

Answer 17

It became a paradigm - the accepted way for studying conformity

Question 18

What were the weaknesses of Asch’s method?

Answer 18

Only one participant tested at once - uneconomical and time consuming
Situation unrealistic so lacked mundane realism
Unethical as it involved deceit - believed it was a visual perception study and psychological harm - participants put under stress through disagreeing

Question 19

What are three other evaluative points for Asch’s study?

Answer 19

Overall conformity rate = 32% showing that most people did not conform and were independent
Confederates weren’t trained actors and therefore participants may have realised the confederates answers weren’t real and pretended conform as the researchers wanted them to
The sample was not representative - all male students (mostly middle class) so cant be generalised

Question 20

What was Mori and Arai’s study in 2010 and what was the aim?

Answer 20

Asch without actors - aim was to reproduce the Asch experiment without the need for confederates

Question 21

What was the Mori and Arai procedure?

Answer 21

104 Japanese undergraduates were put in same-sex groups of four. They sat around a table with the seat order randomised and had to say out loud which line matched the stimulus line (same lines as Asch’s study)
Participants wore sunglasses to prevent glare with the third participant in each group wearing different glasses which made them see a shorter or longer comparison line to the others on 12/18 critical trials - other six trials neutral (all saw the same thing)
Participants then answered a questionnaire containing 22 questions taken from Asch’s interview - one question included if they were suspicious about anything and if they were influenced by others

Question 22

What were the findings of the Mori and Asch experiment?

Answer 22

Majority of the people who saw correct comparison lines answered incorrectly 8.2% of the time (so significant gender difference)
26 minority participants who saw different lines answered incorrectly 19.6% of the time however female minority answered wrong 28.6% of the time , Male = 5%
Female results - similar to Asch’s study with minority conforming to wrong answer on the 12 critical trials 4.41 times but male conformity not noticeable (all of Asch’s participants were males

Question 23

Why is the Mori and Arai study important?

Answer 23

Supports normative social influence - who do people conform to an answer they know is wrong

Question 24

What were the conclusions drawn from Mori and Arai’s experiment?

Answer 24

Minority participants noted their judgements were different but none reported suspicious surrounding honesty of majority participants suggesting demand characteristics didn’t occur
Unlike Asch’s findings - frequency of conformity of minority participants similar regardless of whether the majority answered unanimously or not (suggesting number of people In majority group has little effect on conformity)
Women conformed more than men (cultural and generational differences occurred since Asch’s study)
No one laughed at wrong answers suggesting fear of ridicule was not a reason for conformity

Question 25

What does the Mori and Arai study link with?

Answer 25

Compare with Jenness’ 1932 and the Jelly Beans and Asch’s 1955 study

Question 26

What is a strength of the Mori and Arai study?

Answer 26

The new procedure could provide an effective means of examining conformity especially in social situations and natural settings where the use of confederates wouldn’t be practical (such as with children)
Likely to be externally valid as participants knew eachother - real life conformity tends to occur among people like family rather than Asch - type situations with strangers

Question 27

What are the limitations of Mori and Arai’s experiment?

Answer 27

New procedure still unethical - participants deceived into thinking sunglasses were to prevent glare
Conformity may have occurred due to both NSI and SSI - may have experienced a desire to fit in as well as to be correct
Lacked mundane realism