Paper 1- Social Influence

Question 1

3 types of conformity according to Kelman (1958)

Answer 1

Identification
Compliance
Internalisation

Question 2

Explain internalisation as a type of conformity

Answer 2

Changing your beliefs of behaviour to fit a wider social group because you have “internalised” those beliefs or behavioural norms, and think they are your own

Question 3

Explain compliance as a type of conformity

Answer 3

Aligning your behaviour to fit the wider social group despite your own private doubts out of a desire to “fit in” or fear of being rejected.

Question 4

Explain identification as a type of conformity

Answer 4

Changing your behaviour to fit a set of social norms, usually associated with a specific role or position in society

Question 5

What are the two explanations for conformity according to Deutsch and Gerard (1955)

Answer 5

Two process theory:
Normative Social Influence (NSI)
The need to be liked

Informational Social Influence (ISI)-
The need to be right

Question 6

What is NSI?

Answer 6

Confirming or changing your behaviour based on apparent social “norms” and expected behaviour

Question 7

What is ISI?

Answer 7

Conforming and changing your behaviour based on information gained from or about the wider social group

Question 8

A03- Research support for NSI

Answer 8

• Evidence supports it as an explanation of conformity
  -Asch’s ppts said they conformed because they felt self conscious and were afraid of disapproval
  -When ppts wrote answers down, conformity fell by 12.5% (no normative group pressure)
• Shows some conformity is due to a desire of not being rejected by the group for disagreeing with them

Question 9

A03- Research support for ISI

Answer 9

• Research evidence by Lucas et al.
• Found the ppts conformed more often when they thought the questions were more difficult
• When the problem was hard the situation became more ambiguous and ppts don’t want to be wrong so they relied on others answers
• Shows that ISI is a valid explanation for conformity as the results would be what ISI would predict

Question 10

A03- Counterpoint for research on ISI and NSI

Answer 10

-Unclear if it’s NSI or ISI by Asch ‘55
-Conformity is reduced when there’s another dissenting ppt
-May reduce power of NSI as they provide social support
-May reduce power of ISI as they provide an alternative source of social info
- Hard to separate both processes as they probably operate together in most real-world conformity situations

Question 11

A03- Limitation for NSI

Answer 11

• Does not predict conformity in every case
• Some people are concerned with being liked by others, they have a strong need for affiliation
• McGhee & Teevan ‘67 found that students who had this strong need were more likely to conform
• There are individual differences in conformity that can’t be explained by one general theory

Question 12

Asch’s baseline procedure

Answer 12

Procedure to assess to what extent people will conform to the opinion of others, even in a situation where the answer is certain
123 American men
Comparison of lines
Groups of 6 - 8 (one genuine ppt, others all confederates
Genuine ppts conformed 1/3 of the time
Individual differences- 25% never conformed

Question 13

3 variables investigated by Asch that might increase or decrease conformity

Answer 13

Group size
Anonymity
Task difficulty

Question 14

Group size affecting conformity

Answer 14

Conformity increased with group size, but only up to a point
With 3 confederates conforming rose up to 31.8%
Presence of more confederates made little difference

Question 15

Unanimity affecting conformity

Answer 15

The presence of a dissenter gave the ppt the confidence to behave more independently

Question 16

Task difficulty affecting conformity

Answer 16

Asch increased the difficulty by making the lines more similar in length and found that conformity increased as it’s unclear what the right answer is. This is an example of ISI.

Question 17

A03- limitation for Asch’s research on artificial situations

Answer 17

• Task and situation were artificial
• Ppts may have gone along with what they thought was expected in the results(demand characteristics)
• Fiske (2014) Asch’s groups didn’t resemble groups that we experience in everyday life
• Findings not generalisable

Question 18

A03- Limitation for Asch’s ppts

Answer 18

• All ppts American men
• Neto ‘95 says women may be more conformist as they are concerned about social relationships and being accepted
• US is an individualistic culture, in collectivist cultures like China, conformity is higher
• limited application to conformity, women and different cultures

Question 19

Zimbardo (1973) SPE

Answer 19

Mock prison in basement of Stanford Uni
21 men (student volunteers)
Randomly assigned roles
Encouraged to conform to social roles
Uniforms lead to de-individuation
Prisoners rebelled after 2 days
Guards behaviour became aggressive
Zimbardo ended study after 6 days instead of the full 14.