Social - Conformity

Question 1

What is CONFORMITY?

Answer 1

The result of social influence: people adopt behaviours and attitudes of the majority

Question 2

What are the 3 types of conformity?

Answer 2

Compliance
Identification
Internalization

Question 3

What is COMPLIANCE?

Answer 3

Publicly conforming to the behaviour/views of others in a group whilst privately maintaining a contrasting personal opinion.

Question 4

What is IDENTIFICATION?

Answer 4

Adopting behaviour/views of a group both publicly and privately because you value membership of that group, but new attitudes are often temporary and not maintained upon leaving the group

Question 5

What is INTERNALIZATION?

Answer 5

Conversion of private views to match those of the group and the new attitudes and behaviours become part of your value system (not dependant on the presence of others)

Question 6

What are the 2 explanations of conformity?

Answer 6

Normative Social Influence

Informational Social Influence

Question 7

What is Normative Social Influence and what type of conformity does it lead to?

Answer 7

Based on the desire to be LIKED: conforming because we think others will approve/accept us. Normally leads to COMPLIANCE

Question 8

According to who’s theory, when are we most likely to conform to normative social influence?

Answer 8

Latane’s social impact theory said that we respond most to normative influence when a group is IMPORTANT to us or when is it BIG

Question 9

What is Informational Social Influence and what type of conformity does it lead to?

Answer 9

Based on our desire to be RIGHT: conforming to those we believe to be correct, especially in ambiguous situations. Normally leads to INTERNALIZATION

Question 10

What three factors can lead to informational social influence?

Answer 10

Situational ambiguity
Emergencies
Presence of an expert

Question 11

What was Sherif’s research into the emergence of group norms?

Answer 11

Used the auto-kinetic effect to ask first individuals how far the light moved and then asked a group how far they thought it moved.

Question 12

What was the conclusion from Sherif’s study into the emergence of group norms?

Answer 12

When faced with an ambiguous situation participants looked to others in a group for guidance (informational social influence). Once a group answer was established individuals continued to use this when later asked individually (internalization)

Question 13

What was the procedure of Asch’s study into conformity?

Answer 13

7 males looked at 2 cards; one with a line on and the other with 3 lines on, one of which was the same length as the initial line. Participants (6 of which were confederates) had to call out the correct answer and 12 out of 18 times would give the incorrect one.

Question 14

What were the results from Asch’s experiment?

Answer 14

Participants conformed on 32% of critical trials
74% conformed at least once
26% never conformed

Question 15

What was concluded from Asch’s study into conformity?

Answer 15

Even in unambiguous situations there may be strong group pressure to conform, especially if the group is in unanimous majority

Question 16

What are 2 evaluative points about Asch’s study into conformity?

Answer 16

1) population validity: all participants were male students - cannot be generalised
2) time of event: 1950s the USA was very conservative, no one wanted to oppose the majority

Question 17

What is an INDIVIDUALISTIC culture?

Answer 17

Where people are more concerned with their own self-interest and where individual initiatives are valued.

Question 18

What 3 variations gave an increase in conformity in Asch’s experiment?

Answer 18

1) Unanimous majority
2) Difficult task
3) Losing a partner

Question 19

What 3 variations gave a decrease in conformity in Asch’s experiment?

Answer 19

1) Non-unamimous majority
2) A majority of less than 3
3) Writing answers privately rather than announcing them

Question 20

What was Crutchfeild’s experiment?

Answer 20

Arranged participants in booths and then carried out the same experiment as Asch but where they answered using lights where they could see the answers of others via lights

Question 21

What were Crutchfield’s findings?

Answer 21

Conformity levels were 30%, and increased when the difficulty increased

Question 22

What was Perrin and Spencer’s study into conformity?

Answer 22

They replicated Asch’s study but with British students

Question 23

What were the findings and conclusions of Perrin and Spencer’s study into conformity?

Answer 23

Only 1 conformed in 369 trials.
Concluded cultural changes over 30 years, as well as the type of students used; they uses engineering, chemistry and maths students which they said were courses improving the ability to resist conformity

Question 24

What was Nicholson et al’s experiment into conformity?

Answer 24

They compared conformity levels in British and American students using Asch’s procedure

Question 25

What were the findings of Nicholson et al’s experiment into conformity?

Answer 25

No significant differences between the two groups suggesting some similarity between British and American student cultures.

Question 26

What was Smith and Bond’s experiment into conformity?

Answer 26

Reviewed 31 studies of conformity conducted in different cultures using Asch’s procedure

Question 27

What was concluded from Smith and Bond’s experiment into conformity?

Answer 27

People in COLLECTIVISTIC cultures show higher levels of conformity compared with those in INDIVIDUALISTIC cultures.

Question 28

What is a COLLECTIVISTIC culture?

Answer 28

Where people emphasise loyalty to the group and being concerned about the needs and interests of others. Group decision making is preferred to individual decisions.

Question 29

What were the aims of Zimbardo’s experiment?

Answer 29

To see how people conform to new roles by seeing how quickly people adopt the roles of a guard or prisoner in a simulated prison experiment

Question 30

What were the findings of Zimbardo’s experiment?

Answer 30

Guards harassed and humiliated the prisoners and conformed to their roles.
Prisoners rebelled but by day 6 most were submissive to the guards

Question 31

What were the conclusions from Zimbardo’s experiment?

Answer 31

Conforming behaviour was explained by SITUATIONAL FACTORS (result of normative social influence) rather than DISPOSITIONAL FACTORS (personality). The situation of the prison encouraged conformity of roles.

Question 32

What are 3 criticisms of Zimbardo’s experiment?

Answer 32

1) Ethical - lack of informed consent and risk of psychological harm
2) Lack of ecological validity due to potential demand characteristics of the participants
3) Zimbardo lost sight of the harm being done to the participants

Question 33

What was Haslam and Reicher’s research study into conformity? What was the aim?

Answer 33

BBC ‘Prison Study’ similar to Zimbardo’s although was overseen by an ethics committee. Aimed to look at whether the guards would abuse their authority and whether the prisoners would succumb or rebel.

Question 34

What were the findings of Haslam and Reicher’s study into conformity?

Answer 34

Guards were uncomfortable to exercise their power and never developed a sense of group identity.
Prisoners supported each other in challenging the guards’ authority.

Question 35

What was concluded from Haslam and Reicher’s study into conformity?

Answer 35

A shared social identity can create social power and lead to positive outcomes

Question 36

Name a study into minority influence

Answer 36

Moscovici

Question 37

State the procedure of a study into minority influence

Answer 37

32 groups of six female participants are told they’re taking part in a study on perception.

Each group are presented with 36 blue slides differing in intensity of shade and are asked to say what colour the slides are.

They either say the slides are green every time or the slides are green 2/3 of the time.

Question 38

What are the findings from a study into minority influence?

Answer 38

green every time: 8% conformity
green 2/3 of the time (inconsistent): 1.25% conformity

32% of the majority conformed with the minority at least once

Conclusion: consistency is key to minority influence

Question 39

What is a variation of the study into minority influence? What were the results?

Answer 39

Where participants could write down their answer privately instead of announce it publicly.
Conformity rates increased

Question 40

According to Moscivici, how should minorities exert their influence?

Answer 40

• Challenge the established norm by imposing doubt on it
• Make itself highly visible
• Be consistent
• Avoid compromise
• Demonstrate certainty and confidence in their ideas

Question 41

What is conversion theory?

Answer 41

According to Moscovici:
If we encounter a conflict of opinions, we take steps to reduce it. If a minority of people hold a different view to our own we examine their argument very closely to find out why their view differs to the majority. The fact that we examine the minority’s argument more closely means we concentrate more on the content of their message and as a result are more likely to be swayed by it on a private level (we are more likely to internalise their viewpoint).