Social Influence

Question 1

Conformity

Answer 1

A change in a person’s behaviour or opinion is a result of real or imagined pressure from a person or group of people.

Question 2

Who proposed the three types of conformity?

Answer 2

Kelman (1958)

Question 3

What are the three types of conformity?

Answer 3

Compliance
Internalisation
Identification

Question 4

Compliance

Answer 4

A
Going with other people’s ideas/to go along with the group to gain their approval or avoid disapproval.

-You publically agree but privately disagree An individual’s change of view is temporary.
likely to occur as a result of NSI

Question 5

Give an example of Compliance?

Answer 5

When friends pressure you into drinking alcohol when you don’t truly want to, and will not drink outside of such social situations.

Question 6

Internalisation

Answer 6

Making the beliefs, values, attitude and behaviour of the group you own (the strongest type of conformity, and often occurs as a result of ISI). An individual’s change of view is permanent

Question 7

Give an example of Internalisation

Answer 7

Being brought up in a religious household, and becoming religious yourself.

Question 8

Identification

Answer 8

Short term change of behaviour and beliefs only in the presence of a group (middle level)

Question 9

Give an example of identification?

Answer 9

Acting more professional and less silly when you arrive at your office to work.

Question 10

What are the two explanations of conformity?

Answer 10

Normative social influence
Influential social influence

Question 11

Explain what is meant by normative and informational social influence.

Answer 11

Both explanations for conformity.

NSI - Conforming in order to be liked / to fit in → usually leads to compliance.
ISI - conforming in order to be right - conformity occurs when the situation is novel; the correct course of action is unclear; an expert is present → most likely to lead to internalisation.

Question 12

Who were the participants in Asch’s study

Answer 12

123 male American undergraduates in groups of 6;

Question 13

What were the aims of Asch’s study?

Answer 13

To investigate conformity and majority influence

Question 14

What was the procedure in Asch’s study?

Answer 14

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

Question 15

What were the findings of Asch’s study?

Answer 15

36.8% conformed
25% never conformed
75% conformed at least once
In a controlled 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)

Question 16

What were the 3 factors affecting conformity in Asch’s study?

Answer 16

Size of majority/Group size
Unanimity of majority
Task Difficulty

Question 17

What are the 2 differences between internalisation and compliance?

Answer 17

Public acceptance and private rejection.

Question 18

What support for NSI was provided by Asch’s study (1951)?

Answer 18

Participants went along with a wrong answer because other people did.
When asked they said they feared disapproval by the others.
Supports: participants conformed in order to be accepted and gain social approval.

Question 19

Explain what is meant by the terms unanimity and task difficulty (Asch).

Answer 19

Unanimity: The extent to which all members of a group agree.

Asch: The majority was unanimous when all confederates chose the same comparison line → produced the greatest levels of conformity.

Task difficulty: Asch’s study becomes more difficult when it becomes harder to work out the correct answer.

Asch: Conformity increases with task difficulty, as participants assume the majority is right.

Question 20

“Asch’s study is a child of its time” - Explain what is meant by this.

Answer 20

When Perrin and Spencer repeated Asch’s study in 1980, only one student conformed out of 396.
(HOWEVER, ENGINEERING UNIVERSITY AO3).

The 1950s (the time when Asch’s study was conducted) was a particularly conformist time in America - it made sense to conform to established norms.

Meaning that people may have conformed because it was the norm to do so → We now live in a less conformist age, meaning the results would be different i.e. the study is a child of its time.

Question 21

Asch’s study has been criticised for being an artificial task and situation. What does this mean and why is this a limitation?

Answer 21

Participants knew they were in a study and may have just gone along with the situation → Demand characteristics.

The task was fairly trivial - not conforming would have had no negative impact - and not resembling any everyday task.

Limitation because the tasks cannot be generalised to everyday situations.

Question 22

Explain the ethical issues with Asch’s research.
Do you believe the benefits of the study outweighed the cost? Explain your answer.

Answer 22

Deception - they thought the other people were part of the study.
Benefits outweigh the costs - gives us information about conformity in society and shows us the destructive possibilities of conformity and how these can be combated.
The ethical issues were fairly unproblematic (mild embarrassment) and was dealt with by a debrief form.

Question 23

Explain why Asch’s findings have limited application in the real world.

Answer 23

Only men were tested by Asch - research suggests that women may be more conformist because they are more concerned with social relationships.

The men were all from the USA - an individualist culture. In individualist cultures, people are largely concerned with themselves.

In conformity studies conducted in collectivist cultures (people are more concerned with social groups), conformity rates were higher → such cultures are more concerned with group needs.

Conformity rates could in fact be much higher than Asch suggested.

His results may only apply to western men, as he did not take gender and cultural differences into account.