social influence

Question 1

define conformity ?

Answer 1

a change in person’s behaviour or opinions as a results of real or imagined pressure from a person or group of people .

Question 2

what are 3 types of conformity ?

Answer 2

compliance -
. Group acceptance
. individuals accepts influence ;hopes to achieve favourable reaction from another person /groupn
conform to avoid punishment or disapproval
- changes their public beh not private
- stops when there are no group pressure to conform - temporary change .
e.g laughing at jokes you don’t really find funny .

-internalisation - deepest level of conformity -permanent
-genuine acceptance of group norms
-person changes their behaviour public and privately
-change in behaviour is permanent
- occur because majority have greater knowledge and minority have little knowledge to challenge their belief
result of INFORMATIONAL SOCIAL INFLUENCE .
E.G if a a person is influenced by a group of muslims to convert to islam that person will follow islam with or without the presence of the group -internalised their beliefs .

-identification - moderate level of conformity
- persons wants to be associated with another person or group
- has elements of internalisation and compliance
- Conform to fit in with the group and don’t want to be left out
-may not believe in everything the group stands for
e.g nurse , police officers

Question 3

state why people conform

Answer 3

• normative social influence
• informational social influence

Question 4

what is normative social influence

Answer 4

• desire to be liked
  -to fit in with the group
  we don’t want to be left out
• compliance /identification

Question 5

what is informational social influence

Answer 5

• the desire to be RIGHT
• conform because we are unsure of the situations
• more likely to conform when there’s an expert
  -we look to others who we believe have more infos than us .
• internalisation

Question 6

evaluate explainiation of conformity

Answer 6

P ;research support - shwon the relationship between people normative beliefs and likelihood of taking up smoking
E ; PERKINS et la found that adolescence exposed to the simple message that the majority of their aged peers didn’t smoke were less likely to take up smoking
E ; support the claim that people shape their behaviour out of a desire to fit in with reference group
L ; Supports the claim that normative socail influence is an legitmate expanation for conformity

Question 7

evaulate explnaition of confromity

Answer 7

P ; ONE STRENGTH of normative social influnce as an explaniation of conformity is that there are pratical applications
E ; schultz et al found that hotel guests were exposed to the normative message that 75% of guest reuse their towel each day , reduced their own towel use by 25%

E ; THEREFORE this support the notion that people shape their beh out of desire to fit in with the majority group norm AND has been used successfully to manipulate people to behave more reasonably when it comes to energy conservation
L ; This therefore reinforces the effects of normative social influence as an explanation for conforming and has had a positive impact on the society to conserve energy consumption .

Question 8

evaluate expalinaition of conformity

Answer 8

P ; research study have demonstrated how exposure to other beliefs has an importance influence on social steretotypes .
E ; HENLEY , found that ppts exposed to negative infos about african americans later reported more negative beliefs about a black individuals
E ;this shows that what it is thought to be a majority of peoples view affects an individuals beliefs
L ; THUS supporting the claim that informational social influence serves as an explaniations for conformity