Types And Explanations Of Conformity

Question 1

Internalisation

Answer 1

Conforming to the group because you accept its norms - you agree privately as well as publicly

Question 2

Identification

Answer 2

Conforming to the group because we value it - prepared to change views to be apart of it

Question 3

Compliance

Answer 3

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

Question 4

What are the explanations for conformity in the two-process theory

Answer 4

• informational social influence

- normative social influence

Question 5

Informational social influence

Answer 5

An explanation of conformity. We agree with the majority because it is correct, and we also want to be correct

Question 6

What could ISI lead to

Answer 6

Internalisation

Question 7

Normative social influence (NSI)

Answer 7

An explanation of conformity. We agree with the opinion of the majority because we want to gain social approval and to be liked

Question 8

What could NSI lead to?

Answer 8

Compliance

Question 9

What type of process is ISI?

Answer 9

A cognitive process

Question 10

What type of process is NSI?

Answer 10

An emotional process

Question 11

Who developed the two-process theory of ISI and NSI?

Answer 11

Morton Deutschmark and Harold Gerard (1955)

Question 12

What are the two main reasons people conform

Answer 12

The two central human needs,

1. To be right - ISI
2. To be liked - NSI

Question 13

One strength of NSI

Answer 13

• there is evidence to support it as an explanation for conformity
• e.g. Asch’s research
• when he interviewed his participants the said they conformed because they felt self-conscious giving the right answer and were afraid of disapproval
• when participants wrote down their answers conformity fell to 12.5%
• giving answers privately removed normative group pressure
• this shows that at least some conformity is due to group pressure and fearing rejection from the group

Question 14

One strength of ISI

Answer 14

• There is research evidence supporting it, from the study by Todd Lucas et al
• he found that participants conformed more often to incorrect answers when the questions were hard
• when they were hard the situation was ambiguous, it was unclear and the participants didn’t want to be wrong
• they relied on the answers they were given
• this shows that ISI is a valid explanation of conformity because the ISI predicts the results

Question 15

One limitation of the two process theory

Answer 15

• it is unclear whether it is NSI or ISI in the research studies
• Asch found that conformity is reduced when there is one other dissenting person
• or they may reduce the ability of the ISI
• Both interpretations of the study are possible
• therefore both processes probably operate together in real-world conformity situations

Question 16

One limitation of the NSI

Answer 16

• It does not predict conformity in every case
• As shown by McGhee and Teevan, NSI can effect some people’s conformity more than others
• there are individual differences in conformity for some people and it cannot be fully explained by one general theory

Question 17

nAffiliators

Answer 17

• People who have a strong need of affiliation and are greatly concerned with being liked by others

Question 18

Who studied nAffiliators in conformity?

Answer 18

Paul McGhee and Richard Teevan (1967)

Question 19

McGhee and Teevan findings

Answer 19

Student who were nAffiliators were even more likely to conform than those who were not

Question 20

Wesley Schultz et al (2008) findings

Answer 20

• they were able to change the behaviour of hotel guests by using printed messages to encourage them to save energy
  
  • this message that suggested other guests were using fewer bath towels were the most successful
  • this is an example of NSI