social influence Flashcards
Outline the definition of conformity
When an individual changes their behaviour or beliefs to fit in with those of a group, due to group pressure.
What are the 3 types of conformity outlined by Kelman?
-Internalisation
-Identification
-Compliance
Outline the defenition of internalisation
Making the beliefs, values, attitude and behaviour of the group your own
- strongest type of confirmity
-often results due to ISI
-change of view is permanent
e.g. being brought up in a religious
household, and becoming religious yourself.
Outline the definition of Identification
-temporary change to behaviour
-belief only present in the presence of group
e.g. acting more professional and less silly when you arrive at your
office to work.
Outline the defenition of compliance
-going along with the group’s ideas/beliefs to gain approval or avoid dissapproval
-publically agree but disagree in private
-weakest form of conformity
-likely to occur as a result of NSI
e.g. when friends pressure you into drinking alcohol when you don’t truly want to, and will not drink outside of such social situations.
Outline the defenition for informational social influence
-conforming in order to be right
-look towards others by copying/obeying to have right answer in a situation when uncertain of their own knowledge
-leads to internalisation
-more likely to be permanent
-occurs in situations we do not have the knowledge or expertise to make our own decisions
e.g. a person following the direction of the crowd in an emergency, even though they don’t actually know where they are going, as they assume that everyone else is going to the right place.
Outline research evidence for ISI
Fein et al. asked participants to vote for a US presidential candidate after they saw
others voting for somebody else. Most of the participants changed their mind because they
wanted to be ‘correct’, thus demonstrating the impact of informational social influence as a mechanism for conformity
Outline the definition of NSI
-conforms in order to be liked
-persons need to be accepted and approved by a group
- more likely to occur through compliance
- temporary form of conformity
- often occurs to avoid embarrassment of disagreeing with majority
e.g. a person starting to smoke because they are surrounded by other people who smoke
Evaluate a strength of NSI
- real life applications
-evidence supporting NSI and bullying
-study has found that a boy can be manipulated by a bully into victimising other children
-bully provides a common goal for the boy’s group of friends, where goal : victimise the other child, so the child will follow to avoid disapproval
-Asch study into conformity Supports NSI
- participants reported that they
conformed to fit in with the group, so it supports the idea of NSI :
states that people conform to fit in when privately disagreeing with the majority.
Outline a strength of ISI
- lucas et al
-conformity to an obviously incorrect maths answer was greater when question was more difficult , when participants rated their own maths ability unfavourable
-supports idea that individuals are more likely to turn to others when lacking information to make their own informed decision (amigious situation)
Evaluate a weakness of both ISI and NSI
NSI and ISI may not be completely exclusive, as suggested by Deutsch and Gerrard’s ‘Two
Process Model’. For example, a dissenting confederate can provide social support, thus reducing the effect of NSI through providing the naive participant with a supporting, similar view. Equally, this can also reduce the effect of ISI through the confederate proving the participant with an alternative source of information. This means that it may be more beneficial to look at NSI and ISI as complementary, as opposed to mutually exclusive mechanisms.
What participants contributed to Asch study?
123 male American undergraduates in groups of 6; consisting of 1 true
participant and 5 confederates (actors/people in on the experiment)
Outline the Aim and procedure of Asch Study?
Aim : To investigate conformity and majority influence
- Participants and confederates were presented with 4 lines; 3
comparison lines and 1 standard line - They asked to state which of three lines was the same length as a
stimulus line - The real participant always answered last or second to last
- Confederates would give the same incorrect answer for 12 out of 18
trials - Asch observed how often the participant would give the same
incorrect answer as the confederates versus the correct answer
Outline the findings of Asch study
36.8% conformed
25% never conformed
75% conformed at least once
In a control trial, only 1% of responses given by participants were
incorrect (which eliminates eyesight/perception as an extraneous
variable, thus increasing the validity of the conclusions drawn)
Outline how Size of majority/Group size effected the level of conformity
Point: An individual is more likely to conform when in a larger group.
Evidence: There was low conformity with group size of confederates were
less than 3 - any more than 3 and the conformity rose by 30%
Explanation: a person is more likely to conform if all members of the
group are in agreement and give the same answer, because it will
increase their confidence in correctness of the group, and decrease their
confidence in their own answer. Conformity does not seem to increase in
groups larger than four so this is considered the optimal group size.
Link: This shows that the majority must be at least 3 to exert an influence,
but an overwhelming majority is not needed in all instances to bring about
conformity.
