social influence - conformity Flashcards
what is conformity?
when someone changes their behaviour or beliefs due to real or imagined pressure from others
what was Asch’s baseline procedure (1951)?
he wanted to assess the extent to which people conform even in an unambiguous situation
one participant per group, the others were confederates.
They were given the task of comparing the lengths of lines.
Confederates gave the wrong answer and the conformity of the participant was measured (whether of not they agreed with the confederates)
what were the findings from Asch’s baseline study (1951)?
participants conformed to the majority 36.8% of the time
25% never conformed
what variables did Asch study (1955)?
group size
unanimity
task difficulty
how did Asch study group size (1955)?
varied the number of confederates from 1 to 15
what were Asch’s findings for group size?
curvilinear relationship - conformity increased with group size until 31.8% with 3 confederates, after which it soon levelled off
suggests most people are sensitive to the view of others as just 1 or 2 confederates was enough to sway opinion
how did Asch investigate unanimity (1955)?
included a dissenter in the group
what were Asch’s findings for unanimity?
the presence of a dissenter caused participants to conform less
the dissenter freed the participant to behave more independently
suggests that the influence of the majority depends largely on their unanimity
how did Asch study task difficulty (1955)?
made the stimulus and comparison lines more similar
what were Asch’s findings for task difficulty?
conformity increased as the situation became more ambiguous, so participants looked for guidance on the right answer (ISI)
limitations of Asch’s study
artificial tasks
participants knew they were in a study, may have responded to demand characteristics.
Fiske (2014) suggested the groups didn’t resemble groups in real life
gender and culture bias
only studied American men - ethnocentric and androcentric.
replications in collectivist cultures showed higher rates of conformity
strength of Asch’s study
Lucas et al (2006) asked participants to solve maths problems and were given fake answers from other students. Participants conformed when the problems were harder
counterpoint - Lucas et al found conformity to be complex due to individual differences - participants with higher confidence in their maths ability conformed less
who suggested the 3 types of conformity and what are they?
Kelman (1958)
internalisation
identification
compliance
what is internalisation?
deepest type of conformity
the individual changes both their public behaviour and private beliefs
long-term change
often the result of ISI
what is identification?
moderate type of conformity
the individual conforms to the group because they value it and want to be a part of it
doesn’t necessarily agree with all their beliefs - public change, private attitudes may not change
what is compliance?
superficial and temporary type of conformity
change in public behaviour but not private beliefs
often the result of NSI
who proposed ISI and NSI as an explanation for conformity?
Deutsch and Gerard (1955)
what is informational social influence (ISI)?
an individual follows the majority due to a desire to be right
a cognitive process
leads to permanent change in behaviour - internalisation
most likely to happed in ambiguous or new situations
what is normative social influence (NSI)?
an individual conforms to the majority due to a desire to be liked and gain social approval
an emotional process
leads to temporary change in behaviour - compliance
can occur with strangers or people we know
may be more pronounced in stressful situations due to greater need for social support
strength of NSI
research support from Asch’s study
he interviewed participants, some of whom said they conformed because they were afraid of disapproval.
when participants wrote down their answers, conformity fell to 12.5% because privately answering removed normative social pressure
limitation of NSI
individual differences
nAffiliators are people greatly concerned with being liked by others.
McGhee and Teevan (1967) found that students who were nAffiliators were more likely to conform
strength of ISI
research support from Lucas et al (2006)
participants conformed more when the questions were difficult.
the situation became ambiguous and they participant didn’t want to be wrong, so relied on the answers of others
limitation of ISI and NSI
difficult to differentiate
Asch (1955) found conformity reduced when there is a dissenter
dissenter could reduce power of NSI - provide social support.
dissenter could reduce power of ISI - provide alternative source of social information
what are social roles?
the roles people play as members of various social groups.
Conformity to these roles is when an individual adopts a particular behaviour and belief while in a certain social situation
