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Psychology - Social influence > Psychology - Social Influence - Conformity > Flashcards

Psychology - Social Influence - Conformity Flashcards

1
Q

Conformity

A

Change in a persons behaviour or opinions as a result of real or imagined pressure from a person or group of people. A form of social influence.

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2
Q

Who argued that we can distinguish between three types of conformity?

A

Kelman (1958)

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3
Q

What are the three types of conformity?

A

Compliance, Internalisation, Identification

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4
Q

What is compliance?

A

individuals change behaviour, attitudes, views and beliefs in public so they align with the majority

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5
Q

How does the individual agree with the group in compliance?

A

no change to privately held behaviour and attitudes, only when group is there

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6
Q

What strength is conformity is compliance?

A

a superficial and temporary form of conformity

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7
Q

What is an example of compliance?

A

A student during their first day at school pretending to find other students conversations interesting even if they don’t think so.

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8
Q

What is Internalisation?

A

individuals change behaviour, attitudes, views and beliefs in public so they align with the majority

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9
Q

How does the individual agree with the group in internalisation?

A

acceptance of groups views privately and publicly

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10
Q

What strength of conformity is internalisation?

A

deeper and permanent form of conformity

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11
Q

What is an example of internalisation?

A

A student during their first day at school watching the other students closely and eventually dressing and behaving like them because they agree and value their dress sense and behaviour

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12
Q

What is identification?

A

conforming to the opinions of a group due to a sense of value towards the group and want to be a part of it

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13
Q
  • moderate type of conformity
A
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14
Q

How does the individual agree with the group in identification?

A

may agree with the group publicly and disagree privately

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15
Q

What strength of conformity is identification?

A

Moderate

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16
Q

What is an example of identification?

A

When you become vegetarian because all your friends are and you like vegetarian food but you still like meat

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17
Q

Who developed the two-process theory for conformity?

A

Deutsch and Gerard (1955), Identifying two reasons for conformity

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18
Q

What are the two reasons for conformity?

A

Informational social influence (ISI) and Normative social influence (NSI)

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19
Q

What is Informational social influence (ISI)?

A

People conform because are unsure how to correctly respond or behave so they look to others for information

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20
Q

What process is ISI?

A

cognitive process

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21
Q

What is the drive for ISI?

A

drive is to be right

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22
Q

When is ISI most likely to occur?

A

most likely in ambiguous and complex situations, crises, or when others are the expert

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23
Q

What is ISI likely to lead to?

A

ISI is likely to lead to internalisation

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24
Q

Normative social influence (NSI)

A

People conform due to a fundamental need to be liked or accepted so people copy others to ‘fit in’

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25
Q

When is NSI most likely to happen?

A

most likely in situations with strangers when concerned about rejection

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26
Q

What is NSI likely to lead to?

A

NSI is likely to lead to compliance

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27
Q

What are the strengths of the explanations for conformity?

A

There is research support for both ISI and NSI

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28
Q

What is the research support for ISI?

A

Lucas et al (2006)

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29
Q

How does Lucas et al (2006) provide research support for ISI?

A

Asked students to give answers to math problems of varying difficulty and found higher rates of conformity in more difficult math problems, especially for students who felt they had poor math skills. Supports ISI explanation.

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30
Q

What is the research support for NSI?

A

Asch (1951)

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31
Q

How does research from Asch (1951) support NSI?

A

Many of his participants went with the clearly wrong answer as others did because the participant feared rejection. Non ambiguous or difficult questions yet people still conformed due to NSI.

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32
Q

What are the weaknesses of the explanations of conformity?

A
  • individual differences in NSI and ISI - ISI and NSI may work together to explain conformity - Supporting studies for NSI and ISI lack ecological validity
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33
Q

What are the individual differences in NSI?

A

NSI explanation for conformity lacks population validity. There are some individuals who are more concerned about being liked. nAffiliatiors are more likely to conform due to NSI and McGhee and Teevan (1967) study on students proved this.

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34
Q

McGhee and Teevan (1967)

A

Found students high in need of affiliation were more likely to conform, showing that individuals who are nAffiliators will conform.

35
Q

nAfilliators

A

people who have a greater need for affiliation

36
Q

What are the individual differences in ISI?

A

ISI doesn’t affect everyone the same way. Asch (1955) found that students are not as conformist (28%) compared to other participants (37%) suggesting that even if the situation is ambiguous we don’t always look to others for support.

37
Q

How may ISI and NSI work together to explain conformity?

A

In Asch’s experiments conformity was reduced when there is one other dissenting participant, they may reduce the power of NSI due to social support or may reduce power of ISI as the participant now has an alternative source of information.

38
Q

How do many of the supporting lab studies for NSI and ISI lack ecological validity?

A

Many of the studies were carried out in lab conditions and lack ecological validity so it may not reflect the real world, for example in Asch’s study the aim is to judge lines but people rarely do this in real life.

39
Q

What are the three main studies into conformity?

A

Jenness (1932), Sherif (1935) and Asch (1951)

40
Q

What was the aim of the Jenness (1932) study?

A

To see if individuals will change their opinion in an ambiguous situation in response to a group discussion

41
Q

What was the method of the Jenness (1932) study?

A

Jenness used a glass bottle with 811 white beans and had a sample of 26 students individually estimate how many there were. He then divided them into groups of three and asked for a group estimate and then separated them once again and saw if they changed their original answer.

42
Q

What were the results of the Jenness (1932) study?

A

Jenness found that nearly all participants changed their answer. - On average by 256 beans for males and 382 beans for females. - Range of the group went from 1875 to 474, -75%

43
Q

What was the conclusion of the Jenness (1932) study?

A

Results suggest that individuals changed initial estimates due to ISI

44
Q

What was the aim of the Sherif (1935) study?

A

To demonstrate that people conform to group norms when in ambiguous situations

45
Q

What was the first part of the method of the Sherif (1935) study?

A

Used a lab experiment with the autokinetic effect participants, we’re individually tested on how far the light moved and estimates varied. They were then tested in groups of three with 2 who had similar individual estimations and 1 whose was different and they had to discuss

46
Q

What was the second part of the method of the Sherif (1935) study?

A

Sherif started the participants in groups to agree on an answer and then when they were taken away and asked individually, their answers were similar to the group norm showing internalisation

47
Q

Autokinetic effect

A

A small spot of light gets projected on a screen and it appears to move when in a dark room even though it is still, it’s a visual illusion.

48
Q

What were the results of the Sherif (1935) study?

A

It was found that over numerous trials the group made a common estimate and the person whose estimate was different from the others would conform

49
Q

What was the conclusion of the Sherif (1935) study?

A

In an ambiguous situation a person will look to others for guidance as they want to do the right thing but lack information. This shows ISI

50
Q

What was the aim of the Asch (1951) study?

A

To investigate the extent to which social pressure from a majority could affect conformity in a non ambiguous situation

51
Q

What did Asch find to be a problem with Sherifs study?

A

There was no correct answer to the ambiguous auto kinetic experiment so how could we be sure they conformed when there was no correct answer

52
Q

What was the method of the Asch (1951) study? (1)

A

Asch used a lab experiment with 123 male US undergraduates and informed them that it was a vision test with a line judgement task and put one real participant in a group of up to 8 confederates who had agreed to give purposefully wrong answers to see if the participant would conform

53
Q

What was the method of the Asch (1951) study? (2)

A

Each person had to state aloud which comparison like was most likely the target line, the answer was always obvious and the real participant gave the answer last. There were 18 trials and confeds gave the wrong answer on 12 trials. Had a control condition with no confeds.

54
Q

What was the result of the Asch (1951) study?

A

On average around 35% of participants conformed in the critical trials. In the 12 critical trials 75% conformed at least and in the control group with no pressure of conformity, less than 1% gave the wrong answer

55
Q

What was the conclusion of the Asch (1951) study?

A

The participants went with the group to fit in showing that participants complied due to NSI

56
Q

What were the 3 variables studied by Asch?

A

Group size, Unanimity and Task difficulty

57
Q

What did Asch look at in regards to group size?

A

Looked at the number of people in a group and whether this effected conformity finding very little in small groups but if it was 3 it went to 30% but after this conformity didn’t increase.

58
Q

What did Campbell and Fairey (1989) say about group size?

A

It has an effect depending on the type of judgement being made and the motivation of the individual. If the task is ambiguous conformity is likely.

59
Q

What did Asch find in regards to the unanimity of the majority?

A

When everyone in the group agreed with the same answer. If one confed gave a right answer conformity levels dropped from 33% to 5.5% however for wrong answers it dropped to 9% suggesting you only need one break in the unanimous decision for conformity to drop

60
Q

What did Asch find in regards to the task difficulty?

A

When the correct answer was less obvious conformity increased, Lucas et al (2006) further investigated this

61
Q

What did Lucas et al (2006) find in regards to task difficulty?

A

Influence of task difficulty is moderated by self efficacy of the individual (competency). When exposed to maths problems in an Asch-type task, high self efficacy patients remained more independents showing the importance of personality differences and task difficulty.

62
Q

What were the weaknesses of Asch’s study?

A

Lacked temporal validity, Lacked ecological validity, Lacked population validity, Caused ethical concerns

63
Q

How does Asch’s study lack temporal validity?

A

Asch’s research took place at a time in US history when conformity was arguably higher due to the historical context. Since 1950, numerous psychologists have attempted to replicate Asch’s study, for example Perrin and Spencer (1980), suggesting the conformity rates found in 1950 may not reflect conformity levels today.

64
Q

Perrin and Spencer (1980)

A

Repeated Asch’s study with British engineering students, 1 student conformed out of 396 trials. Shows low historical validity of Asch - his findings were a product of his time and culture changes over time affects conformity.

65
Q

How does Asch’s study lack ecological validity?

A

Participants were required to judge lengths of line, which is a very artificial task and everyday examples of conformity (e.g. peer pressure) do not involve such mundane requests. As well as this the participants knew they were in a study so may have shown demand characteristics. Fiske 2014

66
Q

What did Fiske (2014) argue?

A

that Aschs group were not groupy as they don’t reflect real life

67
Q

Conformity to social roles

A

Conforming to the expectations of a particular social role and behaving in the expected manner

68
Q

What was the aim of the Zimbardo (1974) SPE study?

A

To investigate how readily people would conform to the roles of guard and prisoner in a role playing exercise that stimulated prison life.

69
Q

What was the method of the Zimbardo (1974) SPE study? (1)

A

Zimbardo converted the basement of Stanford University’s psychology building into a mock prison. He got 24 male student volunteers (out of 75 volunteers) and paid them $15 a day. They were randomly assigned to be a prisoner or guard, there were 10 prisoners and 11 guards.

70
Q

What was the method of the Zimbardo (1974) SPE study? (2)

A

Prisoners arrested in their homes, taken to the local police station to be fingerprinted, photographed and booked. Then taken to the “prison” where they were stripped, deloused and had their belongings removed. They were referred to by number only.

71
Q

What was the result of the Zimbardo (1974) SPE study?

A

Prisoners and guards quickly identified with their social roles. Prisoners tried to rebel but guards swiftly stopped it. Guards dehumanised prisoners, giving them tiring, useless tasks and this made the prisoners increasingly submissive. 5 of the prisoners left early and the experiment was ended on day 6.

72
Q

What was the conclusion of the Zimbardo (1974) SPE study?

A

People quickly conform to social roles even when it goes against their morals and that situational factors were largely responsible for the behaviour.

73
Q

What are the strengths of the Zimbardo (1974) SPE study?

A

Good control over variables, Relevance to Abu Ghraib

74
Q

How was there good control over variables in Zimbardo (1974) SPE study?

A
  • participants selected were emotionally stable - no experimenter bias as roles were randomly assigned
75
Q

How was there relevance to abu ghraib in Zimbardo (1974) SPE study?

A
  • Zimbardo argues that USA Military police were victims of conformity to social roles when abusing Iraqi prisoners
76
Q

What are the weaknesses of the Zimbardo (1974) SPE study?

A

Lack of research support, Ethical issues

77
Q

How was there a lack of research support for the Zimbardo (1974) SPE study?

A
  • Reicher and Haslam (2006) did the BBC prison study and found that prisoners developed a shared identity as a cohesive group and guards didn’t so prisoners eventually took control
78
Q

How were there ethical issues for the Zimbardo (1974) SPE study?

A
  • Zimbardo played dual roles, researcher and superintendent so didn’t adequately support the participants - deception and lack of informed consent regarding the prisoners getting arrested at their own homes
79
Q

How did the guards and prisoners settle into their new roles at the start of the SPE?

A

Guards adopted their role easily and within hours started harassing prisoners behaving in a sadistic and brutal manner. Prisoners were tormented

80
Q

How were prisoners taunted at the start of the SPE?

A

With insults and petty orders, given pointless and boring tasks to accomplish, generally dehumanises and soon adopted prison like behaviour

81
Q

What prison like behaviour did the prisoners adopt at the start of the SPE?

A

Talked about prison issues a lot, told tales on each other to guards, started taking prison rules seriously and siding with guards against disobedient prisoners.

82
Q

Over the next few days of the SPE how did the relationships change?

A

As prisoners became more dependent, guards became more derisive and held them openly in contempt. Prisoners became more submissive and guards became more assertive

83
Q

Why did one prisoner have to be released from the SPE after 36 hours?

A

Due to uncontrollable bursts of screaming crying and anger. His thinking became disorganised and was entering a deep depression. After three others had to leave.

Psychology - Social influence (4 decks)

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