Types and Explanations of Conformity

Question 1

What is conformity?

Answer 1

A form of majority influence where the attitudes, beliefs and behaviors of ppl in a particular group are adopted in response to real or imagined group pressure. (Aronson, 2011)

Question 2

The 3 types of conformity:

Answer 2

• Compliance
• Identification
• Internalisation

Question 3

Compliance:

Answer 3

• publicly conforming to beh/views of others in a group - but privately maintaining one’s own views.
• involves going along w group, even if do not really agree w/ what they r doing
• it is temporary change in beh, only lasts as long as group pressure present
• likely to be linked to normative social influence
• weakest type of conformity

Question 4

Example of compliance:

Answer 4

Pretending to like a film you dislike so as to not stand out from a group who all really love that film

Question 5

Identification:

Answer 5

• individuals adjust their beh and beliefs to those of a group, bc membership of that group is desirable and the members of the group are seen as role models
• stronger type of conformity, involving public AND private acceptance
• generally temporary+ not maintained when individuals leave the group

Question 6

Example of identification:

Answer 6

Adopting the same music and fashion tastes as your friendship group. When you move away though, you return back to your old clothes and music

Question 7

Internalisation:

Answer 7

• a conversion of private views to match those of the group.
• the belief/behaviour of majority is accepted by the individual + becomes part of their own belief system
• most permanent form of conformity- usually lasts even if majority is not longer present
• most likely to b linked to informational social influence

Question 8

Example of Internalisation:

Answer 8

A person who undergoes a genuine religious conversion. This person will still pray and believe in God even if they move away from the social group of their church.

Question 9

Who developed a dual-process model:

Answer 9

Deutsch & Gerard (1955)

Question 10

What did Deutsch & Gerard (1955) argue?

Answer 10

That there r two main reasons people conform.

Question 11

State the two explanations as to why people conform:

Answer 11

• Informational social influence (ISI)
• Normative social influence (NSI)

Question 12

What is the central human need of Informational social influence?

Answer 12

The need to be right

Question 13

What is the central human need of Normative social influence?

Answer 13

The need to be liked

Question 14

easy way to remember normative social influence->

Answer 14

desire to be liked -> following the crowd -> part of the NORM

Question 15

NORMATIVE SOCIAL INFLUENCE:

Answer 15

• ppl conform bc they desire to be liked by other members of group and avoid rejection
• need for acceptance and approval from the group
• associated w/ compliance - only occurs when individual is with the group and stops when individual is away from group
  + example

Question 16

Example of Normative social influence:

Answer 16

Listening to a certain type of music with friends bc u feel being part of this group is desirable and don’t want to be rejected. When you are away from group, you do not listen to this music

Question 17

easy way to remember informational social influence->

Answer 17

desire to be right -> accepting the majority’s viewpoint -> looking for INFORMATION

Question 18

INFORMATIONAL SOCIAL INFLUENCE:

Answer 18

• based on desire to b right - occurs when we turn to others who we believe to be correct, in an attempt to gain information about how we think or act
• common when ppl r uncertain abt their own opinions/behaviours
• occurs in ambigous situations
• associated w/ internalisation - indiv continues to conform to beh of group when group is not present bc they believe the beh is correct
  + example

Question 19

Example of Informational social influence

Answer 19

A student may not know the answer to a question in class but if most of the class agrees on one answer, they accept this answer bc they feel they are likely to be right.

Question 20

Strength of explanations for conformity - evidence to support informational social influence.

Answer 20

Lucas et al (2006) - Asked students to give answers to mathematical problems that were easy or more difficult. Students more likely to also give the wrong answer (conform to the majority) when questions were difficult- especially true for students who rated their mathematical ability as poor.
SB: As predicted by ISI, participants conformed by looking to others for answers because they had a ‘desire to be right’ - this happens in ambiguous situations where they didn’t know the answers themselves.
As this supports the idea of ISI, this increases validity of the DPM.

Question 21

Strength of normative social influence as an explanation of conformity - has supporting evidence.

Answer 21

Using a line judgement task, Asch found on 12 critical trials- approximately a 37% conformity rate to wrong answers made by the majority. Ppts conformed to incorrect response given by the confederates even when correct answer was obvious.
SB: Shows that ppts conformed because of desire to be liked by the group, be part of the majority, and avoid being rejected. Furthermore, since the answer was obvious, it is even more likely that the reason they conformed was due to NSI that participants were conforming to be right (ISI).
Therefore, this supports the role of normative social influence in conformity, increasing the validity of this explanation.

Question 22

How many critical trials did Asch do?

Answer 22

12

Question 23

What was the conformity rate to wrong answers?

Answer 23

37%

Question 24

Limitation of dual process model - fails to account for individual differences and locus of control in conformity.

Answer 24

For example, some individuals care more about being accepted by others and are more likely to be influenced by the majority and conform to be liked than those who care less about being liked. - Shute (1975) found individuals with an external locus of control are more likely to conform as they believe the cause of behaviour lies externally and beyond their own control.
WB: dual process model believes that all humans react to conformity in the same way. This is a key oversight because these personality related factors are key in determining the likelihood of conforming and are factors that vary between individuals.
- since individual differences are not accounted for, NSI explanation is incomplete and reduces its validity.

Question 25

A further limitation is that there are alternative reasons than NSI and ISI for why people conform.

Answer 25

Deutsch & Gerard (1955) found 7x greater rate of conformity when the other group members belonged to the participants’ in-groups (where the participant has shared interests with the group members and identifies with them) rather than an out-group (who have different interests to the participant and are not identified with). Therefore, belonging to a certain group may influence conformity more so than seeking approval from others or a desire to be right.
WB: the dual process model may be an incomplete explanation of
conformity because it cannot account for the important role of social circumstances in conformity - Decrease in validity.

Question 26

What was the greater rate of conformity when the other group members belonged to the participants’ in-groups?

Answer 26

x7

Question 27

What is an in-group?

Answer 27

the participant has shared interests with the group members and identifies with them

Question 28

What is an out-group?

Answer 28

The group have different interests to the participant and are not identified with