social influence - conformity Flashcards
describe Asch’s baseline procedure
Asch(1951) devised a procedure to assess to what extent people will conform to the opinions of others, even in a situation where the answer is certain
discuss group size as a variable investigated by Asch
he varied the number of confederates from 1 to 15.
Asch found a curvilinear relationship between group size and conformity rate. conformity increased with group size up to a point. this suggests that most people were very sensitive to the views of others because just one or two confederates was enough to sway opinion
discuss unanimity as a variable investigated by Asch
he introduced a confederate who disagreed with other confederates. the genuine participant conformed less often in the presence of the dissenter. the rate decreased to less than a quarter when the majority was unanimous.
discuss task difficulty as a variable investigated by Asch
he increased the difficulty of the line judging task by making the stimulus line and the comparison lines more similar to each other in length. conformity increased as it is natural to look to other people for guidance and assume they are right and you are wrong (ISI)
discuss artificial situation and task as a limitation of Asch’s research
participants knew they were in a study and may have developed demand characteristics. Fiske (2014) also stated that the groups Asch used did not resemble groups that we experience in everyday life. this means the findings cannot be generalised to real world situations
discuss limited application as a limitation of Asch’s research
all of Asch’s participants were American men. Neto (1995) suggests that women may be more conformist because they are concerned about social relationships a lot more. also, similar conformity studies were conducted in collectivist cultures and found conformity rates to be higher. therefore Asch’s findings tell us little about conformity in women and people from other cultures
discuss research support as a strength of Asch’s research
there is support from other studies, such as, Lucas(2006) who asked participants easy and hard maths questions. participants conformed more often and agreed with wrong answers when the problems got harder. This shows Asch was correct in claiming that task difficulty affects conformity
discuss the counterpoint of research support as a strength to Asch’s research
Lucas’s study found that conformity is more complex than Asch suggests. this is clear as participants with high confidence in their maths ability conformed less on hard tasks than those with low confidence. this shows that individual level factor can influence conformity
what is internalisation?
a deep type of conformity where we take on the majority view because we accept it as correct. it leads to a far reaching and permanent change in behaviour, even when the group is absent
what is identification?
we conform to the opinions/behaviour of a group because there is something about that group that we value and want to be apart of. this is a public change and not private
what is compliance?
simply ‘going along with others’ in public but not changing private opinions or behaviour. this often stops as soon as group pressure stops
who came up with the two process theory for conformity?
Deutsch and Gerald (1955)
what is ISI?
informational social influence- need to be right. often happens when we are uncertain about what behaviour is right so we follow the opinion of the rest of the group to gain social approval or avoid social rejection. it is a cognitive process and leads to a permanent change in behaviour (internalisation)
what is NSI?
normative social influence- need to be liked. people do not want to appear foolish and prefer to gain social approval than be rejected. it is an emotional process and leads to a temporary change in behaviour (compliance). often happens in situations with strangers/new situations where people have a greater need for social support
