SOCIAL INFLUENCE Flashcards
What is conformity?
A change in a person’s behaviours/opinions due to real/imagined pressure from a person/group of people.
What is compliance?
It is a temporary type of conformity whereby a person outwardly goes along with the majority view, but privately disagrees as the view does not become part of our own personal belief system. It only leads to a superficial change in behaviours/opinions that only lasts as long as the group is monitoring us.
What is identification?
It is a moderate type of conformity whereby a person acts in the same way as a group because we value it and want to be part of it. This leads to a public change in behaviours/opinions however in private we may not agree with everything the group stands for.
What is internalisation?
It is a deep type of conformity whereby the view of the majority becomes part of a person’s own belief system as they believe it is correct. This leads to a public and private change in behaviours/opinions even when the group is absent, the change is likely to be permanent. (It is the result of ISI).
Who proposed the explanations of conformity?
Deutsch and Gerard - The two process theory
What is normative social influence?
An explanation for conformity which states we agree with the opinion of the majority because we want to gain acceptance, social approval and be liked. People prefer to gain social approval than be rejected so it is most likely to occur in situations with strangers where we fear rejection. This may lead to compliance.
What is informational social influence?
An explanation for conformity which states we agree with the opinion of the majority because we believe it is correct. We accept it because we want to be correct too. It may occur in new/ambiguous situations where it is not clear what is right. This may lead to internalisation.
AO3 Explanations for conformity 1) - Low level explanation.
One limitation of the explanations is that it only provides a low level explanation of why people conform. The two process theory only considers ISI and NSI occurring independently rather than together. This is a problem as research evidence suggests that these explanations of conformity can co-exist and work together to provide a more complete reason to explain conformity. E.g. further evidence from Asch’s study supports that people conform for both normative and informational reasons as when questionned in post-experiment interviews some participants said they conformed as they believed the majority was genuinely correct (informational) and to avoid standing out from the crowd (normative). Therefore by only using one of the reasons, it does not provide us with a holistic view of why conformity occurs - and can therefore be criticised as a reductionist view.
AO3 Explanations for conformity 2) - Both explanations fail to consider individual differences.
A second limitation is that both explanations of conformity fail to consider individual differences. NSI suggests that people conform because they have a desire to be liked, however individuals who are less concerned about being liked are less affected by NSI compared to those who need greater affiliation. Further research by Asch indicated that ISI is also affected by individual differences. His findings showed that some people were less conformist (28%) than others (37%) which was further supported by Perrin and Spencer (only 1 person conformed from 396 trials). This therefore challenges the view that people all conform for the same reasons and therefore reduces the external validity and the extent that such explanations can be generalised to the wider population.
AO3 Explanations for conformity 3) + Research support for NSI.
One strength of the explanations of conformtiy is that there is research support for the NSI explanation. Research by Asch found that many of his participants simply went along with the incorrect answer because other people did. When questioned in post-experiment interviews, some participants reported only conforming due to fear of the group’s disapproval. This provides support for the view that people do conform because they have a desire to feel accepted by the majority influence and therefore increases the reliability of NSI as an explanation for conformity. In addition, a strength of the research support is that Asch adopted a nomothetic approach by implementing high levels of control e.g. all the confederates were told to give the same wrong answer for each participant strengthening his ability to make prediction about participant behaviour and making the research more scientifically recognised. From this Asch was able to establish general laws about conformity which has contributed to society having a more detailed understanding about the influences of a unanimous group on individuals.
What was the A, M, P of research into conformity?
A - Asch aimed to investigate the extent to which a unanimous group could affect a person to conform to the wrong answer when the correct answer was obvious.
P - 87 male American undergrad students took part in a lab experiment, using a volunteer sampling method. 50 of these formed the experimental group, 37 in control group. In the experimental condition 7-9 participants were seated at the table with only one of them being a genuine participant, others were confederates. Genuine participant always sat one seat from last.
Two large cards were presented to the group; the ‘test’ card showed one vertical line, the other showed 3 vertical likes of different lengths. Participants had to call out, in turn, which of the 3 lines was the same length as the ‘test’ line. In the experimental condition, genuine participant called out his answer second to last. On 12 out of 18 trials (the critical trials), confederates gave intentional wrong answers.
What was the F and C of research into conformity?
F - Findings for the experimental group were that participants conformed in 36.8% of all trials and 32% of participants conformed in the critical trials. 75% of the participants conformed at least once so 25% didn’t conform at all. In control group with no confederates, less than 1% of partipants conformed.
C - Post experiment interviews: most conforming participants claimed they conformed to avoid rejection (NSI) but some conformed due to genuinely believing others were right (ISI). Hence people conform due to NSI and ISI.
AO3 Research into conformity 1) - Lacks population validity.
One limitation of Asch’s research is that it lacks population validity. This is because Asch’s sample consisted of only male undergrad students from America and so was not representative of other cultures or gender. Asch assumed that the result of his research would equally apply to females which is known as beta bias when a psychologist minimises the difference between males and females. This can result in a biased view which assumes that women and men are alike in their conformity behaviours hence suggesting an andocentric (male-centred) view of conformity. This is a limitation as it remains unclear whether females would conform in a similar way from the beta-biased research hence making it difficult to generalise the findings beyond the study. Furthermore despite only studying conformity in an individualistic culture (America), Asch assumes that the findings are universal hence the imposed etic approach results in a biased view that assumes collectivist and individualist cultures share similar conformity behaviours which cannot be true due to the different views held towards the importance of social groups. This therefore reduces the external validity of Asch’s research making it difficult to generalised the findings on conformity behaviours.
AO3 Research into conformity 2) - Low ecological validity and mundane realism.
Another limitation of Asch’s reseaerch is that it has low ecological validity and low mundane realism. This is because the lab experiment took place in a highly controlled artificial setting with artificial stimuli (matching lines) that did not reflect the natural environment or tasks participants would have completed in every day life. Furthermore the nature of the artificial stimuli may have encouraged participants to show demand characteristics by going along with the nature of the study. E.g. the task of matching lines was a trivial task and therefore there was no real reason for them not to conform. Similarly the groups that participants were in did not necessarily reflect the natural groups that participants are in during every day life. This is a limitation as it means that the findings of Asch’s study cannot be generalised to every day situations which questions whether people would really have shown such high levels of conformity in their real lives.
AO3 Research into conformity 3) - Lack of temporal validity.
Additionally, his study can also be criticised for lacking temporal validity. This is because the findings of Asch’s study may only reflect American society during the 1950’s when it was in the grip of a strong anti-communist period of time. During this time people were afraid to appear different and therefore more likely to conform. Further research by Perrin & Spencer (1980) supports that Asch’s findings may have been era dependent after repeating the original study with engineering students in the UK and finding significantly lower levels of conformity. Perrin & Spencer found that only 1 student conformed out of 396 trials. This is a limitation as it suggests that Asch’s findings may have been an effect of the cultural norms of that time rather than the independent variable. This issue reduces the external validity of the findings and also explains why Ash’s study is often referred to as a ‘Child of its time’, as the findings and conclusions drawn are evidence of the era it was conducted in.
