Social Influence - 1.1 Conformity Flashcards
Explain the term conformity
This term refers to a change in an individual’s belief or behavior in order to fit into a particular group.
What are the different types of conformity
- Compliance
- Identification
- Internalisation
Explain the term Compliance
Compliance is when an individual publicly conforms to a certain group even though they do not agree with its attitudes, beliefs or behaviour privately.
For example, a person can say he is a vegetarian when he is in a group because everyone is vegetarian, but he actually eats meat.
Explain the term Identification
This term implies the temporary adoption of the behaviour of a group or role model.
For example, a person begins to dress like a member of a certain group even though it is not their style in private.
Explain the term Internalisation
This term implies the individual’s exposure to the different views of the other group members, where both accept and internalise it as their own.
For example, when an individual decides that his friend is right because he has become a vegetarian and decides to become one as well, then he will not be tempted to go back to his old diet.
Two central human needs in conformity
Conformity is based on the two central human needs:
- needing to be right,
- needing to be liked.
Explain Informative social influence
Informative social influence is a psychological phenomenon where people conform to the behaviors, beliefs, or opinions of others because they believe that those others have more knowledge or are more accurate in a particular situation. This type of influence occurs when individuals look to others for guidance, especially in situations where they are uncertain or lack information. This is because they have a desire to be right
Explain Normative social influence
It is a consequence of the individual’s insecurity in his beliefs, so he relies on the group, considering it better informed. It can also happen due to an individual’s desire to fit in with the group, so he accepts the group’s decisions or behaviour in order to gain their approval. This type mainly involves compliance.
Research support for normative social influence: Asch (1951)
Asch (1951) findings showed that participants maintained that they had given an incorrect answer even when they later learned it was incorrect. This was because they did not feel self-conscious and did not want to go against the group and meet its disapproval.
Research support for informational social influence: Lucas et al. (2006)
Lucas et al.’s (2006) findings showed that the participants agreed more when the math tasks were difficult, in contrast to those participants when the math tasks were considered easy. This was because the students were unsure of the answer and wanted to avoid making mistakes.
What do variables affecting conformity include?
What did Asch want to investigate in the classic study of conformity?
The procedure and findings of the classic study of conformity
Participants were tested in groups of 6 to 8, where each group was presented with a standard line and three comparison lines. Participants had to say out loud which comparison line corresponded to the standard length. In each group there was only one real (naive) participant, the others were confederates, where the real participant sat penultimate and did not know that there were other participants fake participants. All sham Confederate participants gave the same incorrect answer because the Confederates were told to give an incorrect answer on 12 of the 18 clues.
The results of the study showed that the real participants agreed with the incorrect answers given by the confederates 36.8% of the time.
A third of the time, real participants answered, and the study showed that 75% of the samples answered the majority on at least one trial. 25% of the participants did not give a single wrong answer, which indicates the existence of individual differences.
