P1 Social Influence: Topic 1: Conformity Flashcards

Types and Explanations

1
Q

What is conformity?

A

Changing your behaviour / opinion as a result of real / imagined pressure from a group

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2
Q

Who developed a two-process theory for why people conform?

A

Morton Deutsch and Harold Gerard (1955)

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3
Q

What are the two-processed theories for why people conform?

A

Normative Social Influence (NSI)
Informational Social Influence (ISI)

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4
Q

What is NSI?

A

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.

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5
Q

What is ISI?

A

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.

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6
Q

Who developed the three types of conformity?

A

Kelman (1958)

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7
Q

What are the three types of conformity?

A

Compliance, identification, and internalisation

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8
Q

What is compliance?

A
  • Going along with others in public, but internally / privately not changing personal opinions.
  • Results in superficial change and stops when group pressure stops.
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9
Q

What is identification?

A
  • 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.
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10
Q

What is internalisation?

A
  • Person genuinely accepts group norms, both in public and private.
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11
Q

What is psychology?

A

The study of the mind, how it works, and how it affects behaviour.

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12
Q

What are individual differences?

A

People are different therefore we can’t assume the same psychological and behavioural processes for everyone.

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13
Q

Who conducted one of the earliest experiments examining conformity?

A

Jenness (1932)

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14
Q

What experiment did Jenness do the examine conformity?
This is an example of Deutsch and Gerard’s two-process theory.

A
  • 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.
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15
Q

Why does Jenness’ experiment support Deutsch & Gerard’s two process theory?

A

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.
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16
Q

What experiment did Lucas do in 2006 that supports Deutsch & Gerard’s two process theory?

A
  • Asked students to give answers to mathematical problems that were easy or more difficult.
  • There was greater conformity to incorrect answers when they were difficult rather than when they were the easier ones.
  • This was even more true for students who rated their mathematical ability as poor.
17
Q

How does Lucas’ experiment support Deutsch & Gerard’s two process theory?

A

Uses ISI.

  • People conform when without the answer.
  • They assume others know better than them.
18
Q

What did Asch find in his experiments about conformity? (1951)

A

Many participants conformed rather than give correct answer because they were afraid of disapproval.

19
Q

How does Asch’s experiment support Deutsch & Gerard’s two process theory?

A

Uses NSI.

  • People conform due to desire not to be rejected by the group for disagreeing.
20
Q

What are nAffiliators?

A

People who care about being liked as they have a greater need for ‘affiliation’.

21
Q

What did McGhee and Teevan find about nAffilliators? (1967)

A

They found that students who were nAfilliators were more likely to conform.

22
Q

How does McGhee and Teevan’s findings weaken Deutsch & Gerard’s two process theory?

A

Lack of generalisability.

  • NSI doesn’t affect everyones behaviour the same.
  • There are individual differences in the way people respond.
23
Q

What is another limitation of Deutsch & Gerard’s two process theory?

A
  • Deutsch and Gerard’s two process theory believes ISI and NSI work separately.
  • More often that not, both processes work together.
24
Q

How does the belief that ISI and NSI work together weaken Deutsch & Gerard’s two process theory?

A

It goes against the theory.

  • Conformity involves complex behaviour, so it includes a combination of both processes in the world.