Social Influence

Question 1

Aronson’s definition of conformity?

Answer 1

Conformity is a change in a person’s behaviour or opinions as a result of real or imagined pressure from a person or a group of people

Question 2

Who came up with the types of conformity?

Answer 2

Herbert Kelman (1958)

Question 3

What is the deepest type of conformity?

Answer 3

Internalisation

Question 4

Outline internalisation

Answer 4

A person genuinely accepts the group norm, both in public and in private, likely because they already sympathise with the opinion. This change persists even in absence of the group.

Question 5

Example of internalisation

Answer 5

Ollie becomes a vegetarian while sharing a flat with animal rights activists at university and continues to be a vegetarian his whole life.

Question 6

What is the middle type of conformity?

Answer 6

Identification

Question 7

Outline identification

Answer 7

A person changes their view publicly (sometimes privately) in order to fit in with the group because there is something in the group they value and they want to identify with the group, even if we don’t privately agree with everything the group stands for.

Question 8

Example of identification

Answer 8

Grace joins the army and changes her beliefs in order to fit in with the views held by others in the group. She adopts the belief that you should support your colleagues even when they are wrong, however she does not keep these views after she leaves the army.

Question 9

What is the lowest type of conformity

Answer 9

Compliance (superficial type)

Question 10

Outline compliance

Answer 10

A person conforms publicly with the views or behaviours with the views or behaviours expressed by others in the group, but privately not changing personal opinions or behaviour.

Question 11

Example of compliance

Answer 11

Sam agrees with his friends that the film they watched was excellent whilst secretly not enjoying it much.

Question 12

Positive of Kelman’s types of conformity?

Answer 12

These types identified by Kelman reflect the amount of change that has taken place to a person’s views or actions whilst also reflecting the reasons or motives for change (group acceptance - compliance) (belonging - identification) (conversion already sympathise - internalisation)

Question 13

Who came up with an explanation for conformity and what was it?

Answer 13

Deutsch and Gerard (1955) Dual-Process theory

Question 14

Outline ISI

Answer 14

Informative Social Influence (can lead to internalisation): we agree with the opinion of the majority because we believe it is correct and because we want to be correct (normally because we are uncertain).

Question 15

When is ISI most likely to occur?

Answer 15

Most likely to happen in a situation that is new to a person or situations where there is some ambiguity, or when one person (or group) is regarded as being more of an expert.

Question 16

Example of ISI

Answer 16

You may not know the answer to a question in class but most of your class agrees on one answer, you accept the answer because you feel they are likely to be right .

Question 17

Outline NSI

Answer 17

Normative Social Influence (compliance): we agree with the opinion of the majority because we want to be accepted, gain social approval, and be liked. NSI is an emotional rather than cognitive (ISI) process because we do not want to appear foolish and we prefer to gain social approval rather than be rejected.

Question 18

When is NSI most likely to occur?

Answer 18

Most likely to occur in situations with strangers where you may feel concerned about rejection, or with people you know because we are most concerned about the social approval of our friends.

Question 19

Example of NSI

Answer 19

You may dislike a fashion trend but comply because all of your friends are wearing it and we want their approval.

Question 20

S - Research support for Dual Process Theory

Answer 20

Lucas et al. (2006)

Question 21

E/X - Outline Lucas et al. (2006) and how it improves reliability of DPT

Answer 21

Lucas et al. asked students to give answers to mathematical problems that were easy or more difficult. There was greater conformity to incorrect answers when they were difficult rather than when they were easier to find the correct answer. This was especially true for students who rated their mathematical ability as poor. Lucas et al.’s study improved the reliability of the study as it showed it is consistent, and showed it could be applied to real life and supported its claim that conformity is usual in situations where people feel they do not know the answer, so we look to other people and assume they know better than us and must be right. (also supports ASCH)

Question 22

E - How is dual-process theory reductionist?

Answer 22

The DPT has been criticised as it does not sufficiently acknowledge the importance of a sense of belonging to a group instead it says we conform because we want to be right (ISI) or we want to fit in (NSI).

Question 23

X - Who showed DPT to be reductionist?

Answer 23

Williams and Sogon (1984) found that conformity was higher in groups when the majority of the group are friends and not strangers. Other studies go further, indicating that conformity to group norms persists even when group members are not present. This shows how friends serve as a reference group, implying that conformity takes place due to group membership, which the DPT largely ignores.

Question 24

E/X - How are individual differences not taken into account in NSI?

Answer 24

Some research shows that NSI does not affect everyone’s behaviour in the same way. People who are less concerned with being liked are less affected by NSI than those who do care. Such people have been described as nAffiliators, and have a greater need for ‘affiliation’. McGhee and Teevan (1967) found that students high in need of affiliation were more likely to conform. This shows that the desire to be liked underlies conformity for some more than others.

Question 25

C - How are individual differences not taken into account in ISI?

Answer 25

Informative social influence does not affect everyone’s behaviour in the same way. For example, Asch (1955) found that students were less conformist (28%) than other participants (37%). Perrin and Spencer (1980) conducted a study involving science and engineering students and also found very little conformity.

Question 26

What was the aim of Asch’s study?

Answer 26

To investigate whether people would conform to the majority in situations where an answer was obvious.

Question 27

What was Asch’s procedure?

Answer 27

Asch recruited 123 male students and asked them to take part in a ‘task of visual perception’. In Asch’s original study there were 5-7 participants per group, all seated together around a large table. Each group was presented with a standard line and 3 comparison lines

Question 28

What were Asch’s results?

Answer 28

real participants conformed on 32% of critical trials where confederates gave the wrong answers. Additionally, 75% of the sample conformed to the majority at least once.

Question 29

What were Asch’s findings?

Answer 29

The experiments revealed the degree to which a person’s own opinions are influenced by those of groups. Asch found that people were willing to ignore their correct belief and give an incorrect answer in order to conform to the rest of the group.

Question 30

What were the results of Asch’s group size variation?

Answer 30

Asch altered the number of confederates to see how this affected conformity. He found the bigger the majority the more conformed.
1 confederate - conformity was 3%. 2 confederates 13%. 3+ always 32%.

Question 31

What were the results of Asch’s unanimity variation?

Answer 31

A confederate gave the right answer against the majority. Asch found a person is more likely to conform when all members of the group agree, even the presence of just 1 confederate going against the rest reduced conformity by 80%.

Question 32

What were the results of Asch’s task difficulty variation?

Answer 32

When the comparison lines were more similar in length it was harder to judge. Conformity increased.

Question 33

E - Explain how Asch’s study has temporal validity.

Answer 33

Asch’s study was carried out in the 1950s after the 2 world wards and with the merging ‘red scare’ of communism, conformity was expected, but society has changed a great deal since then and there is much evidence that people are less conformist today.

Question 34

X - Who showed the temporal validity issues in Asch?

Answer 34

Perrin and Spencer (1980)

Question 35

X - Outline Perrin and Spencer (1980)

Answer 35

repeated Asch’s original study with engineering students in the UK. Only 1 student conformed in a total of 396 trials. It may be that the engineering students felt more confident about measuring lines than the original sample and therefore were less conformist, as Lucas et al (2006) found with mathematical problems that conformity was greater in those who rated their mathematical ability as poor. Nonetheless, this is a limitation of Asch’s study because it is not consistent across situations and may not be consistent across time, and so is not a fundamental feature of human behaviour.

Question 36

C - Who showed Asch’s study is not consistent across cultures?

Answer 36

Bond and Smith (1996)

Question 37

C - Outline Bond and Smith (1996)

Answer 37

The men is Asch’s study were from the US, an individualist culture where people are more concerned about themselves rather than the social group. Bond and Smith (1996) found conformity studies conducted in collectivist cultures, such as China, have found that conformity rates are higher. This is logical as these cultures are often more oriented to group needs. This shows that conformity levels are sometimes even higher than Asch found, Asch’s findings may only apply to American men.

Question 38

E - Explain how Asch’s study has good control and therefore high reliability.

Answer 38

Asch’s study was reduced to its elements in a laboratory, the elements being an individual faced with group pressure who was then asked to make an individual decision.

Question 39

X - Give examples of how Asch’s study was controlled.

Answer 39

The situation was highly controlled in terms of the number of people present and the use of confederates to ensure that social pressure could be moulded. The reliability of this laboratory setting meant that the procedures were consistent enough to be replicated which gave Asch the chance for further research into a range of independent variables, including group size, task difficulty and unanimity. Whilst the laboratory setting could increase demand characteristics, Asch’s experiment had low demand characteristics as the participants knew it was an experiment but did not know what was being tested, participants believed it was an eyesight test.

Question 40

C - Explain how the the high level of control meant that Asch’s study lacked validity.

Answer 40

Participants were placed with groups of strangers in an artificial situation. The test of conformity was a line judgement task, an artificial task, where the answer to the question was obvious, which goes not reflect conformity in everyday life. Furthermore, the group itself has been criticised as not reflecting real life. Fiske (2004) said that “Asch’s groups were not very groupy.”

Question 41

E/X - Explain why Asch’s study has ethical issues.

Answer 41

Asch’s research is ethically questionable and deceived participants. Asch deliberately deceived his participants, and told them they were taking part in a vision test and not an experiment on conformity. In the process of the investigation he also confused the participants, making them believe they were wrong, which could cause harm to their self-esteem and confidence.

Question 42

C - What is the counterpoint to saying Asch’s study is unethical

Answer 42

Whilst this is unethical, if Asch had told the participants the truth of the aim of the experiment the results would have been invalid. If the participants were aware of the true aim they would have displayed demand characteristics and acted differently. Asch did debrief the participants, and followed up after the experiment as multiple of them reported feeling stressed when they disagreed with the majority.