psychology - evaluation types and explanations for conformity Flashcards
what is a strength for NSI ?
- there is evidence that supports it as an explanation of conformity
what is the evidence for NSI as an explanation for conformity ?
- Asch’s study (1951) study into conformity
what did Asch find out within his study for NSI ?
- when asked to judge the lengths of lines and match them to standard line
—> HE found that many of the participants went along with the obviously wrong answers of the other group members
what did Asch do to find out why participants answered in this way ?
- a post-experimental interview on why the did this
what did Asch find out about why participants answered in this way ?
- participants said that they changed their answers to avoid disapproval from the rest of the group
what does it show when Asch found out why the participants responded in the way they did ?
- shows that compliance has occured as the participants conformed in order to ‘fit in’
what did Asch further demonstrate ?
- demonstrated in a later variation (1955) that when the pressure to publicly conform is removed
—> BY asking pacriptants to write down their answers on a piece of paper , rather than say them aloud
what happened to the conformity rates once this research was conducted (1955) ?
- conformity rates fell to 12.5 % as the fear of rejection became far less
what does it show about the conformity ?
- it is due to a desire not to be rejected by the group for disagreeing with them (NSI)
what is the study for support for ISI ?
- provided by Lucas et al (2006)
what was asked of the students within the study
- students were asked to choose the correct answer to mathematical problem that were easy or more difficult
what was found out about conformity within the study ?
- greater conformity to incorrect answers were found when the questions were difficult rather than easy
why did this occur ?
- because when the problems were easy the parciptants ‘ knew their own minds’
- but when the problems were hard the situation became ambiguous.
–> the participants did not want to be wrong , SO the relied on the answers they were given
what does it show about ISI ?
- that ISI is a valid explanation of conformity because the results are what ISI would predict
what is unclear about NSI and ISI ?
- work in research studies or in real life
what is the research used to support that is unclear ?
- Asch (1955) found that conformity is reduced WHEN there is one other dissenting participant present
what may the dissenter do in terms of ISI and NSI ?
- may reduce the power of NSI by providing social support
OR - may reduce the power of ISI because they provide an alternative source of information
BOTH interpretations are possible
what does this suggest about NSI and ISI
- both process probably operate together in most real-world conformity situations
what is a limitation towards conformity ?
- does not predict conformity in every case
what is the reason for this ?
- as some people are more concerned with being liked than others , these people are called ‘nAffiliators’
–> they have a strong need for ‘affiliation’ ( they want to relate to other people)
what is the research to support this argument ?
- McGhee + Teevan (1967)
–> found that students who were nAffiliators were significantly more likely to conform than others
what does it show overall about NSI ?
- underlies conformity for some people more than it does for others.
-there are individual differences to conformity that can’t be fully explained by one general theory of situational pressures
