Social Influence - Conformity

Question 1

Conformity

Answer 1

Individual being influenced to change their behaviour, attitudes and beliefs due to pressure (real/imaginary) from others

Question 2

Compliance

Answer 2

Publicly agree with others opinions around them but private views still disagree (weakest form of conformity)

Question 3

Identification

Answer 3

Public & private agreement with those around them but is only temporary so long as they are around those people (not maintained when they leave the group)

Question 4

Internalization

Answer 4

Permanent agreement in public & private with others views

Question 5

Asch’s line experiment

Answer 5

Investigate extent to which social pressure from majority group could affect a person to conform
Judging which lines matched
Results: 36.8% conformity rate, 75% conformed at least once (evidence of compliance - later admitted to only agreeing due to others all agreeing)

Question 6

Situational factors that influenced Asch’s results

Answer 6

Unanimity (disruption caused by dissenter -> conformity dropped to 5.5% -> even if the dissenter didn’t agree with participant, 9% conformity rate - encourages independence in participant)
Size of majority (no more than 3 needed for conformity)
Task difficulty (harder tasks -> increased conformity & looked to others for the right answer)

Question 7

Strength of Asch’s study

Answer 7

Reliability (replicated - 2 different studies on conformity - youths & officers found similar levels)

Question 8

Limitations of Asch’s study

Answer 8

Reliability (conflicting research - eng & science students had only 1 conforming result, meta-analysis of 134 studies across 17 countries show a decline in conformity)
Temporal validity (1980s America - more likely to conform due to issues surrounding communism & afraid to be different)

Question 9

Normative social influence

Answer 9

Desire to be liked/accepted (compliance)

Question 10

Informational social influence

Answer 10

Desire to be right (internalisation)

Question 11

Strengths of explanations of conformity

Answer 11

Supporting evidence
- NSI (Asch found participants went along with right answer due to self-conscious thoughts & fear of disapproval from peers)
- ISI (Lucas et al found greater conformity with more difficult mathematical problems than with easier ones, especially evident with those who rated their ability low)

Question 12

Limitations of explanations of conformity

Answer 12

Criticisms
- Both (Asch’s study - dissenters reduce power of NSI or ISI so both could be involved & is difficult to separate the two)
- NSI (McGhee & Teevan - those with high need of affiliation were more likely to conform, doesn’t affect everyone’s behaviour the same way as some people are unbothered about being liked)

Question 13

Social roles

Answer 13

Parts people play as members of various groups

Question 14

Dispositional factors

Answer 14

Pre-determined/genetics affects behaviour

Question 15

Situational factors

Answer 15

The environment/situation affects behaviour

Question 16

Zimbardo’s study

Answer 16

Stanford Prison Experiment: investigate conformity to social roles (guards maintain law & prisoners follow)
Findings - guards were confrontational & threatening, prisoners started rebellions via barricading doors & hunger strikes [had to cancel experiment after 6 days due to suffering]
Conclusion - all people become sadists when put in a situation where they can be (conform)

Question 17

Strengths of Zimbardo’s study

Answer 17

High internal validity (lab experiment -> controls for extraneous variables, no underlying factors affecting study due to emotional stability test -> accurate depiction of conformity to social roles)

Question 18

Limitations of Zimbardo’s study

Answer 18

Researcher bias (involvement in study as superintendent -> went against the right to withdraw from study due to losing sight of psychologist role & not wanting the study to end yet -> skewed the results)