P1 Social Influence: Topic 1: Conformity Flashcards
Types and Explanations
What is conformity?
Changing your behaviour / opinion as a result of real / imagined pressure from a group
Who developed a two-process theory for why people conform?
Morton Deutsch and Harold Gerard (1955)
What are the two-processed theories for why people conform?
Normative Social Influence (NSI)
Informational Social Influence (ISI)
What is NSI?
Normative Social Influence
- We agree with majority due to the need to be accepted, gain approval and be liked.
- People don’t like to appear foolish or be rejected so they follow social norms.
- Occurs most when with strangers where you may be rejected, or when trying to gain social approval from friends.
- Often leads to compliance.
What is ISI?
Informational Social Influence
- We agree with majority as we believe they are correct / more knowledgeable than us.
- Most often happens in situations that are new to us, where we feel uncomfortable / unsure.
- Also occurs when one person is regarded as more of an ‘expert’
- Often leads to internalisation.
Who developed the three types of conformity?
Kelman (1958)
What are the three types of conformity?
Compliance, identification, and internalisation
What is compliance?
- Going along with others in public, but internally / privately not changing personal opinions.
- Results in superficial change and stops when group pressure stops.
What is identification?
- Changes public behaviour and their private beliefs, only while in presence of group.
- Usually short-term change and normally the result of normative social influence.
What is internalisation?
- Person genuinely accepts group norms, both in public and private.
What is psychology?
The study of the mind, how it works, and how it affects behaviour.
What are individual differences?
People are different therefore we can’t assume the same psychological and behavioural processes for everyone.
Who conducted one of the earliest experiments examining conformity?
Jenness (1932)
What experiment did Jenness do the examine conformity?
This is an example of Deutsch and Gerard’s two-process theory.
- Participents guess quantity of jelly beans in jar on their own.
- Then whole group asked to arrive at group estimate.
- After discussion, participents provided with another opportunity to individually estimate number of beans, to see if they changed original answer.
- Nearly all participents changed original answer.
- On average, males changed answers by 256 beans and females changed answers by 382.
Why does Jenness’ experiment support Deutsch & Gerard’s two process theory?
It showed the power of confortmity using ISI.
- Participants changed their answers because they thought the group estimate was more likely to be right, over their individual guess.