Social Influence Flashcards
What is conformity?
(majority influence)
Tendency to change what we do, think/say in response to the influence of real/imagined pressure from others
Yield to group pressure
Individual chooses a course of action that is favoured by the majority of other group members
Three main types of how people conform?
Compliance: appear to agree with others, whilst disagreeing in private
Internalisation: agree with others both in private and public
Identification: want to be perceived to belong
The three main types of conformity range from shallow to deep, what is the order?
Compliance - shallowest
Identification- moderate
Internalisation- deep ( most permanent )
Define internalisation
Private and public change
Usually permanent because attitudes have been internalised
Highest level
Result of ISI
Define identification
Public change and possibly private change too
Behaviour stops when not in the presence of the group
Medium level
Result of NSI
What is compliance?
Public change but not private
Temporary and stops at soon as group pressure stops
Result of NSI- avoid disapproval
Lowest level
What are the two main reasons why we conform?
Normative social influence and informational social influence
Explanation for conforming- normative?
Conform because we want to fit in, social approval ( want people to like us), don’t want to be the odd one out
May occur with people we know because we are concerned about the social approval of our friends
Or happens in a situation with strangers where you may feel concerned about rejection
Explanation for conforming- informational?
Conform because we lack information and want to be right
It’s about who has the best information- you or the rest of the group
Informational- Jenness (1932)
To test conformity, need to use ambiguous task
In this case, it’s not clear what the correct answer is
1. Individuals make estimate of how many beans in jar
2. Make estimate in a group
3. Make estimate individually again
Results:
Individuals change estimate to be closer to group estimate after discussing in a group, so, conforming to majority because of lack of information
Also females were more likely to conform
So, the judgements of individuals are affected by majority opinions especially in uncertain situations. Discussion is not effective in changing opinion unless the individuals who enter into discussion become aware of differences in opinion held by others
Normative- Asch (1951,1955)
Procedure:
Asch tested conformity by showing participants two large white cards at a time.
On one card was a standard line and on the other card were three comparison lines.
One of the three lines were the same length as the standard and other two were always substantially different.
The participant was asked which of the three lines match the standard.
Participants in the study were American male undergraduate students. Each naive participant was tested individually with a group of between six and eight Confederates. The naive participant was not aware that the others were Confederates
On the first few trials the Confederates gave the right answers but then they started making mistakes. All Confederates were instructed to give the same wrong answer. Altogether each participant took part in 18 trials and 12 critical trials the Confederates gave the wrong answer. The trial was one occasion identifying the length of the standard line
There was also a control group of 36 participants who were tested individually on 20 trials
Findings:
The control group had an error rate of only 0.4%. The participants gave a wrong answer 32% of the time. Overall 25% of the participants did not conform on any trials, which means that 75% conformed at least once.
The term ‘Asch effect’ has been used to describe this result
When participants were interviewed afterwards most said they confirmed to avoid ridicule
Evaluation of explanations for conformity
Research support for ISI- Wittenbrink and Henley found that participants exposed to negative beliefs about African Americans (which they were lead to believe was the majority view) later reported more negative beliefs about a black individual
Consistency in research findings for ISI increases the reliability of it as an explanation for conformity
Research support for NSI- US research has shown the relationship between people’s normative beliefs and the likelihood of them taking up smoking. Linkenbach and Perkins found that adolescents exposed to the simple message that the majority of their age peers didn’t a joke were subsequently less likely to take up smoking
Consistency in research findings into NSI increases the reliability of it as an explanation for conformity
Artificial task and situation- most research on the explanations or conformity is conducted under laboratory conditions. Participants know they’re taking part in research and so their behaviour may not be the same as in normal everyday life, reducing ecological validity
Also demand characteristics which will reduce internal validity
What are the three variations of the original study?(Asch)
Group size, unanimity and task difficulty
Impact of a variation in group size?(Asch)
One real participant and one Confederate = 0% conformity
One real participant and two Confederates = 14% conformity
One real participant and three Confederate = 32% conformity
After three Confederates, conformity levels stay the same
Impact of task difficulty ( Asch )
Asch made the line judging task more difficult by making the standard line and the comparison lines more similar in length.
He found that conformity increased under these conditions.
This suggests that informational social influence plays a great role when the task becomes harder. This is because the situation is more ambiguous. So we are more likely to look to other people for guidance