types and explanations

Question 1

internalisation

Answer 1

conforming to a group because you accept it’s norms - you agree privately as well as publicly
- permanent change

Question 2

identification

Answer 2

conforming to a group because we value it - prepared to change views to be accepted by it

Question 3

compliance

Answer 3

superficial agreement with the group - going along with it publicly but holding a different view privately

• temporary change

Question 4

informational social influence

Answer 4

agreeing with the majority view/ behaviour because we believe they know better or are more likely to be right

Question 5

normative social influence

Answer 5

agreeing with the majority because we want to be liked and/ or do not want to be rejected

Question 6

research support for NSI

Answer 6

P - strength of NSI is evidence support for it as an explanation of conformity
E - Asch - interviewed participants - some said confirmed due to feeling self-conscious giving correct answer - afraid of disapproval
E - when participants wrote answers down - conformity fell to 12.5% - no normative pressure
L - some conformity due to desire to not be rejected

Question 7

research support for ISI

Answer 7

P - research evidence to support ISI
E - Lucas et al - participants conformed more often to incorrect answers they were given when maths problems were more difficult
E - when problems were easy - knew their own minds - but when hard the situation became ambiguous and they didnt want to be incorrect
L - ISI valid explanation of conformity because results are what ISI would predic

P - however unclear if it is NSI or ISI in research studies
E - Asch found conformity is reduced when other dissenting participant present - power to reduce NSI or reduce ISI
E - both interpretations are possible as for NSI provide social support or ISI provide alternative source of social information
L - hard to separate ISI and NSI and both processes probably operate together in most real-world conformity situations

Question 8

Individual differences in NSI

Answer 8

P - one limitation is that NSI does not predict conformity in every case
E - some people greatly concerned with being liked by others - nAffiliators - strong need for affiliation
E - McGhee and Teevan - students who were nAffiliators more likely to conform
L - NSI underlies conformity for some people more than others - individual differences that cannot be fully explained by one general theory of situational pressures