Social Influence: Explanations of Conformity Flashcards
Asch’s study only used males in the sample for his experiment. What type of bias does the study have?
Gender Bias
Asch’s study is gender bias, how do you know?
Because he used a male only sample
Asch’s study was only conducted on males, why is this a problem?
It is difficult to generalise the findings to females
Why is it difficult to generalise Asch’s results on conformity to females?
Females may conform more as research suggests they are more concerned about social relationships & liked by peers showing NSI explains conformity for some groups of people rather than others (females more than males).
Give two ways in which the methodology can be criticised in Asch’s research into conformity.
1) Gender Bias
2) Lacks Ecological Validity
In Asch’s study, the participant was joined by…
7 - 9 confederates
Asch’s sample?
123 American Male Students
When did participants give their answer?
Last or second to last - heard all the confederate answers first
Asch’s Task
Match the comparison line to the standard lines a/b/c in terms of length
How many times did they confederates give the identical wrong answer?
12/18 times - called the critical trials
Asch’s findings…
Participants gave the wrong answer 37% of the time
Post-experiment interviews on Asch’s participants found hat they conformed ….
publicly not privately to avoid ridicule
Asch’s research supports which explanation of conformity?
NSI
Why did Asch’s results support NSI?
As the task was unambiguous, participants conformed publicly to be accepted by the group
Name the two explanations of conformity
ISI
NSI
ISI stands for…
Informational Social Influence
NSI stands for…
Normative Social Influence
ISI is driven by the desire…
To be right
When does an individual conform according to ISI?
When they lack knowledge
In ISI, when we lack knowledge, what do we seek from who?
Information from the group on how to behave and assume it is right
What kind of process is ISI?
Cognitive
ISI is linked to which type of conformity?
Internalisation
NSI is driven by a desire…
To be liked
According to NSI, why will a person go along with the groups behaviour? Give 3 reasons
Avoid ridicule
Gain acceptance
Fit in
What kind of process is NSI?
An emotional process
NSI is linked to what type of conformity?
Compliance
Conformity is changes in individuals…
beliefs & behaviours
Why do individuals change beliefs & behaviours according to the definition of conformity…
Real or imagined group pressure
Who conducted research to support NSI?
Asch
Who supported research to support ISI?
Jenness
How did Asch vary group size?
Varied the number of confederates//the majority
What did Asch find about conformity rates when group size was varied?
As the number of confederates increased, conformity rates increased
In the group size variation, when do the conformity rates plateau?
When there are 3 confederates
When there is complete agreement from the group - this is called?
Unanimity
How did Asch break Unanimity?
Adding a dissenting confederate
What answer did the dissenting confederate give?
The correct answer - different to the majority’s view
What happened to conformity rates when Asch broke unanimity?
Conformity rates decreases (5.5%)
How did Asch vary the task difficulty?
Made the stimulus and comparison lines more similar in length
What happens to the rate of conformity as task difficulty increases?
Conformity rates increase
Why do conformity rates increase as the difficulty of the task increases?
The answer becomes less obvious so we lose confidence so conform
