Social Influence: Types Of Explanation For Conformity Flashcards
What is Conformity?
Refers to a change in behaviour or opinions due to pressures from a majority.
What is Compliance?
Describes a TYPE of conformity in which a person changes their behaviour/opinions in public but without altering their behaviour/opinions privately.
How much power does Compliance hold?
Compliance is a weak and temporary form of conformity that is likely to last as long as we feel our behaviour/opinions are being monitored by a group.
What is Internalisation?
Describes a TYPE of conformity in which a person changes their behaviours/opinions both privately and publicly.
How powerful is Internalisation?
Internalisation is the most powerful type of conformity as it leads to a far-reaching and permanent change in our behaviours/opinions.
What is Identification?
Describes a type of conformity in which a person changes their behaviour/ opinions to fit in a group because they value the membership of the group and want to maintain the relationship.
How powerful is identification?
Identification is midway between compliance and internalisation as it may involve a public or private change in behaviour/opinion.
What is Normative Social Influence?
Involves a individual accepting the behaviour/opinions of the majority because they are accepted by the majority, reflecting the desire to be part of a social group. I.e being liked.
What conformity it NSI most likely to lead to?
Leads to compliance, meaning NSI is a process driven by our emotions rather than our cognition.
What is Informational Social Influence?
This involves an individual accepting the behaviours/opinions of the majority because they view them as well informed. ( realise they are correct ).
What type of conformity is ISI most likely to lead to?
Leads to internalisation, meaning ISI is most likely to be powerful and long lasting even when the individual is away from the group.
Define Social Psychology.
The scientific study of how thoughts, feelings, and behaviours are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people or by social norms.
What is a limitation of research into the type of conformity?
A limitation of research into conformity is social sensitivity. A study can be considered socially sensitive when it has harmful social consequences as they provide a toolkit for social influence. If used by people with wrong intentions, this could cause social harm by encouraging the wrong behaviour to stigmatise vulnerable social groups in society. E.g. Political leaders manipulating citizens. However, just because it is socially sensitive doesn’t mean it should not be conducted as it can also be used to correctly influence a society. Therefore it must be considered that explanations and types of conformity need to be approached carefully.
What research is there to support Informational Social Influence (ISI)?
Jenness asked participants to give three estimates of the number of jellybeans in a jar: an initial private estimate, a second public estimate, and a final private estimate. Jenness found that the final private estimate tended to move towards the public estimate. One reason this conformity is best explained by ISI rather than NSI is because conformity is driven in ambiguous (not obvious) situations, given that the participants were uncertain,they look to the group for guidance. Another reason,is that NSI usually occurs in situations we believe are being monitored by the majority group, therefore the fact that the final answer was in private is not explained by NSI.However, Jenness’s experiment took place in a lab which meant that the conditions were highly artificial, making it difficult to generalise the findings to everyday behaviour. Therefore it lacks ecological validity supporting the idea that it is an explanation for conformity.
What research supports normative social influence as an explanation of conformity?
In Asch’s line judgement task 33% of participants conformed to the obviously wrong answer given by Asch’s confederates. Follow up interviews demonstrated that these participants only conformed to avoid feeling rejected. This suggests conformity was motivated by the desire to fit in rather than genuine belief, therefore supporting research of NSI as an explanation of conformity. However, follow up research done 30 years later failed to replicate Asch’s findings, suggesting generalisation of the research in the present day is controversial. Moreover, since Asch’s research took place in a lab it was highly artificial making it difficult to generalise the findings to the real world. Therefore the study lacks ecological validity providing further support for NSI.
