Explanations Of Why Peole Conform Flashcards
What is normative social influence?
People conform because they have a need to be liked by other people. They fear rejection and so go along with the group so that the group accept them as part of it.
What does normative social influence lead to?
Normative social influence leads to compliance as the person publicly agree with the majority but privately disagrees with them.
What is informational social influence?
Informational social influence is when a person wants to behave in the right way but doesn’t know how to do so. Therefore they look to someone / a group who they think will know what the correct way to behave is.
What is informational social influence likely to lead to?
Informational social influence is likely to lead to internalisation as they publicly and privately agree with the majority. This is because they actually believe that the group has more knowledge than them and therefore what they are doing must be right.
Who’s research supported the idea that people conform due to normative social influence?
Linkenback and Perkins
What did linkenback and Perkins find?
That adolescents exposed to the simple message that the majority of their age peers did not smoke were subsequently less likely to take up smoking, suggesting that these behaviours occurred as a result of wanting to fit in with a group (normative social influence)
Who researched informational social influence?
Fein et al
What did fein et al discover?
Fein et al demonstrated how judgements of candidate performances in the US presidential debates could be influenced by other’s reactions. Participants saw what was supposedly the reaction of their fellow participants on screen during the debate. This produced large shifts in participants judgement of the candidates performance.
Why is it difficult to separate NSI and ISI as separate explanations?
You would have to rely on what the participant tells the researcher. For example, if a girl is wearing the same clothes as everyone else it would be hard to distinguish whether she privately liked the outfit or privately disliked the outfit. Thusly the research is flawed as it relies too much on the participant’s report and we can only make an assumption as to why people conform.
What is a problem with controlled lab conditions?
It leads to the research being non applicable to real life situations as it has been carried out in an artificial environment and has been controlled. As this therefore wouldn’t happen in real life the research can not be applied.
