Social Influence

Question 1

What is conformity?

Answer 1

Conformity is a change in behaviour or belief as a result of real or imagined group pressure.

Question 2

What are the three types of conformity?

Answer 2

compliance, identification and internalisation

Question 3

Define compliance

Answer 3

Compliance is the shallowest level of conformity, in which the individual changes their behaviour to fit in with the group and avoid rejection. They publically agree but privately disagree. Compliance is not permanant as it only last as long the group is present.

Question 4

Define identification

Answer 4

Identification is the intermediate level of conformity in which the individual adopts the behaviour or beliefs of a group. The individual may or may not priately agree but they accept the group’s norm out of a desire for a relationship or association with the group rather than a genuine internal agreement with the group’s beliefs.

Question 5

Define Internalisation

Answer 5

Internalisation is the deepest level of conformity in which the individual accepts the group’s beliefs and behaviour privately and publicly, and it becomes part of their belief system. Internalisation is a permanant form of conformity, continuing even if the majority group is no longer present.

Question 6

What is compliance influenced by?

Answer 6

Compliance is influenced and due to normative social influence.

Question 7

what is identification linked to?

Answer 7

Identification is linked to social identity where an individual’s sense of who they are is based on their group membership.

Question 8

EXPLANATIONS OF CONFORMITY

What are the two explanations for conformity?

Answer 8

Normative social influence
Informational social influence

Question 9

What is normative social influence?

Answer 9

Normative social influence is conforming to the majority to avoid rejection or being seen as an outcast. This is driven by a desire to be liked and gain social approval. As NSI is motivated by emotional reasons the resulting change in view or behaviour is temporary.

leads to compliance

Question 10

what is an example of normative social influence?

Answer 10

peer pressure

Question 11

What is informational social influence?

Answer 11

ISI is conforming to the majority because of a desire to be correct in situations where the right action or belief is uncertain (ambiguous). As ISI is motivated by cognative reasons, the resulting change in view or belief is permanantn and genuine.

leads to internalisaiton

Question 12

THE ASCH EXPERIMENT

Outline Asch’s experiment

Answer 12

The task was a line judgement experiment that involved 8 to 10 male college student (participants) but only 1 was an actual participant and all the others were confederates of the experimenter. Participants were shown 1 standard line and 3 comparison lines and they were asked to publically identify which of the 3 lines matched the standard line in length. The real participant was seated so they would answer near the end after most of the confederates had given the answer. There was 6 control trails where th e confederates gave the correct answer and 12 critical trails were conducted where the confederates gave the same incorrect answer unanimously.

Question 13

Outline Asch’s findings

Answer 13

75% conformed at least once
5% conformed every time
the overall conformity rate in the critical trails were 32%

Question 14

What does Asch’s research suggest

Answer 14

That people will conform due to normative social influence

Question 15

VARIBLE AFFECTING CONFORMITY AS INVESTIGATED BY ASCH

What are the variables that Asch investigated?

Answer 15

group size
unanimity
task difficulty

Question 16

Outline the group size variable that Asch investigated

Answer 16

Asch varied the number of confederates used fron 1 to 16.
With 1 confederate, the conformity rate was 3%.
With 2 confedrate, the conformity rate was 13%.
With 3 confederate, the conformity rate was 33%.
After this the conformity rate was steady with a conformity rate of 31% at 16 confederates which suggests that the presence of a small, unanimous group has a strong social, but beyond a certain point the group size does not proportianally increase this pressure.

Question 17

Outline the unanimity variable investigated by Asch

Answer 17

When a confederate broke the group’s unanimity by responding correctly and the conformity rate dropped to 5.5% which suggests the presence of a dissenter provides social support.

Question 18

Outline the task difficulty variable investigated by asch

Answer 18

He repeated the experiment with smaller differences between line lengths, making the task more ambigious and the rate of conformity increased. This was due to informational social influence as they were unsure about their answer.

Question 19

EVALUATING THE ASCH EXPERIMENT

What was a strength of Asch’s experiment

Answer 19

As a lab experiment, Asch’s study has high internal validity as it was carefully controlled and standardised procedures were followed, giving each participant the same experience. For example all participants viewed the same lines in the same order with the same response from the confederates.The results show a direct cause and effect link and so are ,therefore, reliable.

Question 20

What was a weakness of Asch’s study

Answer 20

Perrin and Spencer (1981) argues that Asch’s work lacks temporal validity, suggesting high conformity rates were due to the cultural conditions in the cold war 1950s America. In their replication with British students, they found conformity in only one trail out of 396. They suggested the societal changes, including a possible shift towards more individualistic values might explain the low conformity rates they observed

Question 21

What was a counterpoint of Asch’s study?

Answer 21

Asch’s used an American sample, they are criticised for being culturally biased. However, the use of clear standardised procedures has led to multiple replications. This has allowed the assessment of conformity rates across cultures. In a meta-analysis of 133 studies using Asch’s line jusdgement task across 17 countries, Bond (1966) found support for Asch’s original findings but also much higher rates of conformity in collectivist cultures, which have social norms that prioratise consensus, compared to individualistic societies that value indenpendence and personal freedom. This suggests the pressure to conform is not universal but is influenced by cultural background.

Question 22

What is a weakness of Asch’s study?

Answer 22

Asch’s task lacks mundane realism because matching the lengths of lines is an easy task and highly controlled. while this helps isolate conformity and minimise extraneous variables, it doesn’t replicate real life social situations as conforming happens in a social context, often with people we know rather than strangers. Therefor the artificial nature of Asch’s work is means it is not a valid measure of real life

Question 23

EVALUATING EXPLANATIONS FOR CONFORMITY

What is a strength for explantions for conformity ?

Answer 23

Asch’s original study supports normative social influence as 75% of participants conformed to the incorrect majority at least once despite the correct answer being ambiguous. Participants conformed not because they were unsure of the correct answer but because they wanted to avoid the disconfort of standing out.