Social Influence - Types of Conformity and Explanations for Conformity Flashcards
What are the three types of conformity called?
Kelman 1958
Compliance, internalisation and identification.
Explain the compliance type of conformity.
When you go along with the group in order to gain their approval or avoid their disapproval.
When exposed to the views or actions of the majority, individuals may engage in a process of social comparison, concentrating on what others say or do so that they can adjust their own actions to fit in with them. Fitting in is seen as desirable so this is what motivates conformity.
Compliance does not result in any change in the person’s underlying attitude, only in the views and behaviours they express in public.
Explain the internalisation type of conformity.
When you go along with the group because of an acceptance of their views.
When exposed to the views of other members of a group, individuals are encouraged to engage in a validation process, examining their own beliefs to see if they or the others are right. Close examination of the group’s position may convince the individual that they are wrong and the group is right. This is particularly likely if the group is generally trustworthy in their views and the individual has tended to go along with them on previous occasions.
This can lead to acceptance of the group’s point of view both publicly and privately.
Explain the identification type of conformity.
When you accept influence because they want to be associated with another person or group. By adopting the group’s attitudes and behaviours, they feel more a part of it.
Identification has elements of both compliance and internalisation, as the individual accepts the attitudes and behaviours they are adopting as right and true (internalisation), but the purpose of adopting them is to be accepted as a member of the group (compliance).
For example, a child may start smoking because ‘that’s what cool kids do’ and they want to be seen as a ‘cool kid’.
What are the two explanations for conformity called?
Normative social influence and informational social influence.
Explain normative social influence.
When you go along with the majority without really accepting their point of view.
‘Compliance’.
As humans are a social species, they have a fundamental need for social companionship and a fear of censure and rejection. It is this that forms the basis for normative social influence, i.e. to gain approval and acceptance, to avoid censure and disapproval or to achieve specific goals.
An important condition for normative influence to occur is that the individual must believe they are under the surveillance by the group. When this is the case, people tend to conform to the majority position in public but do not necessarily internalise this view as it does not carry over into private settings nor does it endure over time.
(Nail 1986)
Explain informational social influence.
When you accept information from others as evidence about reality.
As well as having the need to be accepted, human beings also have a need to feel confident that their perceptions and beliefs are correct. Initially, individuals may make objective tests against reality (i.e. check the facts), but if this is not possible they must rely on the opinions of others.
Informational influence is more likely if the situation is ambiguous (i.e. the right course of action is not clear) or where others are experts (i.e. we believe that others have more knowledge than we have). As a result, the individual does not just comply in behaviour alone but also changes their behaviour in line with the group position.
Because this involves changing both public and private attitudes and behaviour, this is an example of internalisation.
Types of conformity and explanations for conformity:
EVALUATION / DISCUSSION
- Difficult to distinguish between compliance and internalisation.
The relationship between compliance and internalisation is complicated because of the difficulties in knowing when each is actually taking place.
- Research support for normative influence
US research has supported the importance role played by people’s normative beliefs in shaping behaviours such as smoking and energy conservation.
- Research support for informational influence
Studies have demonstrated how exposure to other people’s belief and opinions can shape many aspects of social behaviour and belief.
- Normative influence may not be detected
Although normative influence undoubtedly has a powerful effect on the behaviour of the individual, it is possible that they do not actually recognise the behaviour of others as a causal factor of their own behaviour.
- Informational influence is moderated by type of task
A problem for the informational explanation of conformity is that features of the task moderate the impact of majority influence. For some judgements there are clear physical criteria for violation, but for other judgements, there may also be no physical way of validating them.
