Social Influence : Types Of Conformity

Question 1

Conformity

Answer 1

refers to how an individual or small group change their behaviour and/or attitudes as a result
of the influence of a larger group, where there is no direct request for them to do so.

Question 2

What is Informational Social Influence

Answer 2

This occurs when we look to the majority group for information as we are unsure about the way in which to behave. A person will conform because they genuinely believe the majority to be right as we look to them for the right answer. Often occurs in ambiguous situations.

Question 3

What is normative social influence

Answer 3

This occurs when we wish to be liked by the majority group, so we go along with them even though we may not agree with them. This is really just following the crowd in order to fit in with the ‘norm’ and be liked by the group. Often occurs in unambiguous situations.

Question 4

1 Evaluation of Explanations of conformity

Answer 4

P- Sherif’s study using the autokinetic effect gives support for the existence of informational social influence.
E- Sherif found that when participants were asked to judge how far a spot of light had moved in a dark room, when answering individually, estimates were relatively stable, but there was considerable variation between participants (between 2 and 12 inches – 5cm and 30 cm). However, when they were put into groups of three their judgements converged towards a group norm.
E- Sherif suggests this is because the task is difficult and therefore the group members are more likely to look to others to guide them to the right answer
L- therefore supporting the view that informational influence leads to conformity

Question 5

2nd evaluation for explanations of conformity

Answer 5

Asch’s study gives support for the existence of normative social influence.

He found that when participants were asked to give an answer to an easy task, (judging which out of three lines was the same as the sample line), but the confederates, who answered first, all gave the same wrong answer, there was a 32% general conformity rate across critical trials.

As the task was easy, this suggests that participants conformed in order to fit in with the group. This is evidence to support normative social influence as an explanation for conformity

Question 6

What is compliance suggested by Kelman?

Answer 6

This is the most superficial type of conformity. It occurs when an individual wants to achieve a favourable reaction from the other group members. A person will adopt this behaviour to gain specific rewards or avoid punishment and disapproval. With this type of conformity, it is likely that the person does not necessarily agree with the group, and will stop conforming when there are no group pressures to do so.

Question 7

What does compliance result from?

Answer 7

This type of conformity usually results from normative social influence

Question 8

What is identification suggested by Kelman

Answer 8

This is where the individual adapts their behaviour and or opinions because they value membership of a particular group. It is a deeper level of conformity than compliance, because the individual maintains the group behaviour/option, even when they are not with the group. However, it is still likely to lead to a temporary change as when the individual leaves the group they are likely to revert back to their old behaviour/attitudes.

Question 9

How was identification identified?

Answer 9

Identification was demonstrated in Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison experiment

Question 10

What is internalisation suggested by Kelman?

Answer 10

This is the deepest level of conformity and is sometimes referred to as ‘true conformity’. It refers to when an individual accepts the influence of the group because the ideas and actions are rewarding and consistent with his or her own value system. A person will show conformity to a group because he or she genuinely agrees with their views (they have been ‘internalised’). This means it leads to a change in behaviour/attitudes both in public and in private which is permanent.

Question 11

Where does internalisation result from?

Answer 11

This type of conformity usually results from informational social influence

Question 12

1 Evaluation of types of conformity research

Answer 12

P - Asch’s study of conformity gives support for the existence of compliance.
E - When Asch interviewed his participants post-procedure to try to determine why they had conformed to an obviously wrong answer, although a few reported that their judgement had been distorted by the majority, most said that they had conformed to avoid rejection and that they were aware that they were giving the wrong answer,
E - supporting the view that they had changed their answer temporarily to avoid the disapproval of the group, rather than their behaviour being subject to a more permanent change.
L - This supports the view that normative social influence tends to lead to compliance, a short-term change.

Question 13

2 Evaluation of types of conformity research

Answer 13

Sherif’s study of conformity, using the autokinetic effect, gives support for the existence of internalisation. This is because, when asked to judge how far a spot of light had moved in a dark room (a task that had no right answer), there were wide variations between participants’ answers in the first individual condition. However, when they were put into groups of three, a group norm was established that was maintained in a further condition where they answered individually. This suggests that they were truly persuaded away from their original answers and had taken the group view as their own, thus demonstrating a fairly permanent change which is characteristic of internalisation

Question 14

Key study - Supporting ISI Sherif ?

Answer 14

Aim - To investigate whether people are influenced by others (in an ambiguous task)

Method – Used the autokinetic effect where a still point of light in the dark appears to move. Participants were shown a still point of light in the dark and estimated how far it moved, first on their own and then in groups.

Results – When alone, participants developed their own stable estimates (personal norms). In the group, judgements gradually became closer and closer until a group norm developed (an estimate they agreed on).

Question 15

Key study - Supporting ISI Sherif conclusion and evaluation ?

Answer 15

Conclusion – Participants were influenced by the estimates of other people. Estimates converged because participants used information from others to help them.

Evaluation – supports the informational social influence theory. Low ecological validity (an artificial task). Ambiguous task – no correct answer!

Question 16

What is Asch’s study?

Answer 16

Aims:
- To see if participants would feel pressured into conforming to an obviously wrong answer

Procedure:
- Participants were asked to match one standard line with three possibilities

• In a control study of 36 participants taking part in 20 trials each, only three mistakes were made over a total of 720 trials.
• Participants in the experimental
  condition (n=50, male college
  students) were tested in groups of
  7, 8 or 9.
• All the other members of the group were confederates of the experimenter.
• The confederates were instructed beforehand to give the same wrong answers on certain critical trials.
• The naïve participant was always the last or second to last to answer.
• The confederates gave the same wrong answer on 12 of the 18 trials. These were referred to as
  ‘critical trials’.

Question 17

Findings of Asch’s study?

Answer 17

Findings:
- 26% of participants did not conform on any critical trials.
- 5% of participants conformed on every critical trial
- 74% of participants conformed at least once
- 32% was the basic conformity rate (total number of trials)

After the experiment, the participants were asked why they had conformed:
Some wanted to please the experimenter, and they thought that conforming was what the experimenter wanted; a few genuinely doubted their own eyesight; others reported that they did not want to appear different or be made to look a fool.

Question 18

Conclusion of Asch’s study?

Answer 18

This research is a demonstration of normative social influence. The finding that many did not want to appear different means that they did not internalise the answer, and would have returned to their original belief, so this is an example of compliance.

Question 19

Pros Evaluation of Asch’s study?

Answer 19

Pros :

• The research has useful applications which can potentially benefit society. For example, members of a jury may feel pressured to conform through normative influence, which could lead to a miscarriage of justice if a minority feel pressured to agree with a majority verdict.
• This knowledge can be used by the courts to
  make jurors aware of the importance of being able to cast their vote privately, and not say it publicly, which should reduce the pressure each jury member feels to conform.
• This should result in a fairer verdict, one which truly reflects the opinions of the jury members.

Question 20

Cons evaluation of Asch’s study?

Answer 20

There is evidence that suggests a cultural bias in Asch’s research. For example, Smith & Bond (1996) analysed over 100 studies using an Asch type procedure and found that collectivist cultures conform more than individualist cultures. Perrin & Spencer (1980) replicated Asch’s study on engineering students and did not find
support for the conformity effect. These results may be explained by cultural differences. Asch’s research was carried out in an individualist culture, so we would expect less conformity due to the value placed on independence and autonomy in such a culture.

Question 21

What are variables that affect levels of conformity ?

Answer 21

• Group size
• Unanimity
• Difficulty of the Task

Question 22

How does Group size affect levels conformity?

Answer 22

What did Asch’s do?

Asch manipulated the size of the majority to record the effect it had on the participant. Using his original procedure, he varied the number of confederates in the group. Participants were tested using either 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 10 or 15 confederates.

Findings
- Conformity was only 3% when there was one confederate
- Conformity was 13% when there were two confederates
- When there were three confederates, conformity increased to 33% and didn’t increase much beyond this regardless of the number of confederates
- In some conditions, a larger group of 15 confederates led to slightly less conformity, maybe because the participant was more likely to become suspicious when there was such a large group

Question 23

How does Unanimity affect levels conformity?

Answer 23

What did Asch’s do?

Asch wanted to see if one person dissenting from the majority would affect the likelihood of the participant conforming

Findings
- When the participant had one (confederate) ally who gave the right answer before the participant answered, conformity dropped to 5.5%
- Asch found that when the confederate dissenter gave a different answer from the majority, but that answer was still incorrect, this was equally effective in reducing conformity in the participant. Asch concluded from this that the important factor was that the participant had support for deviating from the group, not support for his answer

Question 24

How does difficulty of the task affect levels conformity?

Answer 24

Conformity increases when the task becomes more difficult.

Findings
- Asch found that when he made the length of the lines more similar, conformity increased. This supports the view that conformity is more likely when the task is difficult

Question 25

1 Evaluation of the research into factors that affect conformity

Answer 25

The research into group size has useful applications. This could be used in schools to make sure that children with problematic behaviour are grouped with three others whose behaviour is more desirable in the hope that the problem behaviour will be modified by the presence of the larger group.

Question 26

2 Evaluation of the research into factors that affect conformity

Answer 26

The observation that majorities need to be unanimous to be influential has implications for those wishing to exert influence. For example, in a business setting, where a management committee may be attempting to influence a new member, they should be aware of the importance of maintaining the same public opinion, even if privately some members may disagree with the company line.