L9 - Conformity

Question 1

What are the three types of social influence?

Answer 1

• Conformity: behaviour similar to what other people do, aligns us with someone else’s behaviour: not on demand
• Compliance: same but on demand
• Obedience: same as compliance but there is a person making a demand

Question 2

What was a study showing conformity is higher on the peripheral route of persuasion?

Answer 2

• Ppts listened to messages advocating senior comprehensive examinations under one of two conditions: uni introducing exams next year or next decade
• Message was either strong with high quality argument or weal with low quality argument
• Message was produced by either local high school class (low expertise) or high expertise
• In low involvement = source expertise affected attitudes, in high involvement = argument quality affected attitudes

Question 3

What is nonconscious conformity: Automatic mimicry?

Answer 3

• Some form of conformity is automatic
• Ppts unconsciously imitates behaviours of a confederate

Question 4

What are the reasons for Automatic Mimicry?

Answer 4

• Merely thinking about a behaviour makes performing it more likely
• When we see others behave in a certain way = more likely to act the same way

Question 5

What was a study on automatic mimicry?

Answer 5

• Ppts and interviewer sit on opposite sides of each other
• Confed rubs face all time/shakes foot: all videotaped and analysed
• Looking how many instances ppt copies, results show that they copy a lot

Question 6

Why do we do automatic mimicry in social interaction?

Answer 6

• Mimicry is stronger for people with a drive to affiliate with others
• People like those who mimic them than those who don’t
• People who mimic are engaged in more prosocial behaviour
• Can build social rapport and lead to pleasant social interactions
• Synchronous mimicry can create powerful feelings of closeness and bonding

Question 7

Is conformity bad?

Answer 7

• Going along with Nazi propaganda
• Body image
• Football hooliganism
• Binge drinking

Question 8

What was Sherif’s conformity experiment (informative):

Answer 8

• Social frame helps us to interpret reality
• Examined group responses to an illusion of a moving point
• Individual judgements converged to an average position, once agreement reached, group members remained committed to their decision
• High ambiguity = when ambiguous, people seek for guidance in others

Question 9

What was Asch’s conformity experiment? (Normative)

Answer 9

• Groups of 7-9 university students sit around a table and experimenter in front of them puts a card on the board
• Card consists of three lines and a test line and ppts are asked to match it with the appropriate comparison line
• Ppts say the wrong line occasionally and see how the ppt would react when the majority reacted differently to them
• 76% of ppts conformed at least once and less than 1% of ppts made errors in the control group

Question 10

What were the results of Asch’s study?

Answer 10

• Ppts saw themselves as the source of the problem
• All concentrate much more on the task
• All experience some level of self-doubt
• One dissenter made conformity a lot lower

Question 11

How does the fear of social disapproval justified?

Answer 11

• Inverted paradigm where there was 1 confed but 16 ppts
• Confed was openly and loudly ridiculed for giving a wrong answer

Question 12

What were follow up studies? (Asch)

Answer 12

• Ppts witnessed incorrect answers but gave their answer privately = conformity plummeted
• Still some ppts that conformed
• Informational conformity = internalisation
• Normative conformity = public conformity

Question 13

What are reasons for conforming?

Answer 13

• Fear of appearing foolish (normative)
• Belief that everyone else must be right (informational)
• Belief that everyone else was conforming (protecting the first ppt)
• Fear of spoiling the study’s results
• Critically engaged and were actively trying to make sense of the situation
• Interested in maintaining harmony = groups need to function effectively and maintain cohesion

Question 14

What are factors affecting conformity - Anonymity?

Answer 14

• Eliminates NSI and so should reduce conformity
• Internalisation: private acceptance = central rout
• ISI = internalisation
• NSI = public compliance not public acceptance = peripheral route = publically agree to avoid social disapproval e.g when Asch’s study was on paper, conformity dropped

Question 15

More info on the data of resistance:

Answer 15

• 24% never conformed
• 11% conformed on al trials
• Ignoring dissent = only understand half of the story, more focus on ones who resisted
• Social change has roots in one individual/group questioning majority beliefs and standing firm in their beliefs

Question 16

What is the influence of minority opinion on the majority?

Answer 16

• Minority influence can change majority opinion
• Greatest influence when opinion is consistent
• Effect is primarily though informational social influence

Question 17

Study on minority influence?

Answer 17

• Ppts saw 36 somewhat blue squares and rated their colour
• Minority of confeds responded alike
• When confed varied responses between blue/green, 1% of ppts said green
• When confeds were consistent in always saying green, 8% of ppt said green

Question 18

What does culture have to do with conformity?

Answer 18

• Examined 33 countries with regards to how loose/tight they are
• Loose = weak norms, high tolerance of deviant behaviour
• Tight = string norms and low tolerance of deviant behaviour
• Historical experiences and ecological constraints are reasons for why societies are how they are = into account when interpreting research results and implications for other contexts