SI: Types of/ explanations for conformity Flashcards
What are the 3 types of conformity?
Compliance
Internalisation
Identification
What is compliance?
Publicly agree, privately disagree
Change behaviour to fit in with group and avoid disapproval, even if don’t believe groups viewpoint
weakest lvl of conformity
Give an example of compliance
Asch’s study: naive participants went along with wrong answer to not look as stupid
What is internalisation?
Publicly and privately agreeing
Genuinely accepting group norms
Permanent change - deepest lvl of conformity
What is identification?
Publicly agree, privately disagree
Conform to the behaviour of the group because there is something about that group we value and want to be part of it
Don’t necessarily agree with what the majority believes
What is meant by normative social influence?
People go along with the behaviour of the group to:
- gain approval from others,
- avoid rejection
Publicly agree, privately disagree.
What is informational social influence?
Agreeing with the opinion of the majority because we believe it is correct
We accept it because we want to be correct as well
Occurs:
- in ambiguous situations
- when decisions have to be made quickly
ISI research support - Lucas et al (2006)
Ask students To give answers is to easy and more difficult maths questions
Questions difficult = More conformity to incorrect answers
Side note: most true for students who rated their maths ability as poor
People conform in situations where they feel they don’t know the answer (ISI). We look to others and assume they know better than us and must be right
Weakness of ISI: individual differences
Asch
Found students were less conformist (28%) compared to other participants (37%)
Weakness of ISI: individual differences
Perrin and Spencer
Found less conformity in engineering students (confident about precision)
People who are more knowledgeable and confident are less influenced by the ‘right’ view of a majority.
Therefore, there are difference with how individuals respond
