Social influence - types of comformity Flashcards
conformity
where we choose to go along with the majority
social influence
the ways in which external social factors can alter our behaviour
who studied conformity in 1936?
Sherif
what was Sherif’s study?
asked participants to estimate how far a spot of light moved in an optical illusion. he then asked again but when participants are in a group of 3. answers changed because they wanted to fit in and not look stupid
who first studied conformity in 1932?
Jenness
what was Jenness’ study?
he asked individuals to estimate amount of beans in a jar. then he got all individuals to come up with a group estimate between them. then he privately asked the individual if they would change their original answer, and almost everyone moved closer to the group estimate
what are the two reasons for conformity?
normative and informational social influence
what is normative social influence?
when an individual conforms to be accepted and belong to a group despite privately disagreeing
what is informational social influence?
when an individual conforms to gain knowledge or be correct
what are the three types of conformity and who proposed them?
compliance, identification and internalisation. proposed by Kelman in 1958
what is compliance?
a short term change in behaviour/attitude where an individual conforms publicly but disagrees privately
what is identification?
a short term change in behaviour/attitude where an individual conforms publicly and privately
what is internalisation?
a long term change in behaviour/attitude where an individual conforms publicly and privately
who studied conformity by an experiment?
Asch in 1951
what was Asch’s experiment and what were the findings?
had to say aloud what line they thought was most similar to the line in front of them. 37% conformed to what other people said despite it being obvious that the other people were answering incorrectly.
what are the reasons of the men conforming in Asch’s experiment?
thinking they were wrong (distortion of judgement) or knowing they’re right but wanting to fit in (distortion of action)
what happened when the participant was grouped with non-conforming confederate?
conformity dropped to 5%
limitations of research into conformity?
- people who cared less about being liked are less likely to conform (not normative social influence)
- normative and informational social influence are taken into account (seen in Asch’s experiment where a non-conformer was added)
- theories could be seen as out of date as they were made 60+ years ago and other factors may have been affecting conformity
strengths of research into conformity?
+ 2008, found that after being told that 75% of guests at a hotel re-use their towel, individuals reduced their own towel usage by 25%, showing them conforming to a reference group
+ 2003, adolescents were less likely to smoke after being told ‘most teenagers don’t smoke’
+ 2006, in maths tests, students are more likely to conform if faced with more difficult questions (informational social influence)
