Explanations of Conformity Flashcards
Informational Social Influence (ISI)
An explanation of conformity that says we agree with the opinion of the majority because we believe it is correct. We accept it because we want to be correct as well. This may lead to internalisation.
Normative Social Influence (NSI)
An explanation of conformity that says we agree with the opinion of the majority because we want to gain social approval and be liked. This can lead to compliance.
Evaluation
Support for NSI:
- Evidence supports it as an explanation of conformity - for example, when Asch interviewed his participants, some said they conformed because they felt self-conscious giving the correct answer and they were afraid of disapproval - conformity fell to 12.5% when they wrote there answers down
- This is because giving answers privately meant there was no normative group pressure - showing that at least some conformity is due to a desire not to be rejected by the group for disagreeing with them (e.g. NSI)
Support for ISI:
- There is research evidence to support ISI from the study by Todd Lucas et al - he found that participants conformed more often to incorrect answers they were given when the maths problems were difficult
- This is because when the problems were easy the participants knew their own minds but when the problems were hard the situation became ambiguous - showing that ISI is a valid explanation of conformity because the results are what ISI would predict
Counterpoint:
- It is often unclear whether it is NSI or ISI at work in research studies or in real life - for example, Asch found that conformity is reduced when, the dissenter may reduce the power of NSI because they provide social support of they may reduce the power of ISI because they provide an alternative source of social information.
- Therefore it is hard to separate ISI and NSI and both processes probably operate together in most real-world conformity situations
Contradiction:
- NSI does not predict conformity in every case - naffiliators = concerned with being liked by people and have a strong need for affilation
- Paul McGhee and Richard Teevan found that students who were naffiliators were more likely to conform
- This shows that NSI underlies conformity for some people more than it does for others - individual differences that cannot be fully explained
