Social influence: explanations of conformity

Question 1

What are the two types of explanations for conformity?

Answer 1

-normative
-informational

Question 2

What does normative social influence mean?

Answer 2

-individuals conform to look normal and to fit in (have a desire to fit in)
-emotional process -people prefer social approval then rejection

Question 3

What supports normative explanation?

Answer 3

-asch research suggest people are influence by normative SI:
.participants said they conformed as they were self conscious of disapproval or rejection
.conformity with one confederate was 3% whereas with three confederates it was 32%

Question 4

What research doesn’t support normative explanations?

Answer 4

-they rely on inference (cannot observe a persons reasoning for conforming) -we can ask them in post-experimental interviews, but they may not know themselves therefore it is subjective data lacking credibility

Question 5

What is informational social influence?

Answer 5

-when an individual needs/uses information they get from other participants to make a judgement -especially in ambiguous situations
-have a desire to be correct

Question 6

What supports informational explanation?

Answer 6

-asch variations 1955
task difficulty -when lines were similar lengths conformity increased as p’s used others as a source of judgement

Question 7

What research doesn’t support informational explanations?

Answer 7

-individual differences:
.asch found that as a whole students conformed less -suggests the influence of informational SI is not the same for all
.rely on inference (cannot observe someone’s reasoning for conforming) -we can ask them in post-experimental interviews, but they may not know themselves, therefore it is a collection of subjective data lacking credibility