Types and explanations of conformity

Question 1

Kelman (1958) came up with 3 types of conformity

Answer 1

• compliance
• internalisation
• identification

Question 2

What is internalisation?

Answer 2

• when a person genuinely accepts a groups norms
• private+public change of behaviour/opinions
• usually permanent

Question 3

What is identification?

Answer 3

• conform to the ops/ beliefs of a group because there is something about the group that we value
• want to be part of the group
• public ally change ops/behaviours to be accepted but privately disagree

Question 4

What is compliance?

Answer 4

• involves going along with others in public
• privately not changing any beliefs/behaviours
• superficial change
• behaviour/ opinion stops as soon as the group pressure stops

Question 5

What is duestch and Gerard’s two- way process theory?

Answer 5

• two main reasons why people conform
• based on two central human needs:
• need to be right
• need to be liked

Question 6

What is informational social influence(ISI)?

Answer 6

• follow behaviour of the majority because we want to be right
• they may have better information than us
• cognitive process that is permanent change
• most likely to happen with new people or when there is ambiguity
• in crisis’s when fast decisions need to be made

Question 7

What is Normative social influence(NSI)?

Answer 7

• about what is typical social behaviour for a group
• people would rather agree and gain social approval than be rejected
• emotional process rather than cognitive
• temporary change in ops/ behaviour
• more likely to happen when they don’t want to be rejected
• concerned about social approval
• happens in stressful situations where people need social support

Question 8

Evaluation strength: research support for NSI
(Asch’s study)

Answer 8

• interviewed pp
• conformed bc felt self- conscious giving correct answer and afraid of social disapproval
• when answers were written conformity fell to 12.5%
• private answers= no Normative influence

Question 9

Evaluation strength: research support for ISI (Lucas et al.)

Answer 9

• more conformity to incorrect maths answers when they were more difficult
• bc situation became ambiguous
• pp didn’t want to be wrong so relied on answers they were given

Question 10

Evaluation COUNTER: research support for ISI (Lucas et al.)

Answer 10

• unclear whether ISI or NSI is happening during studies
• Asch found conformity reduced when there was another dissenting pp
• bc they provide social support
• bc they give alt. source of info
• hard to separate ISI and NSI

Question 11

Evaluation limitation: individual differences in NSI

Answer 11

• some people greatly concerned with being liked by others
• nAffiliators: strong need for ‘affiliation’
• Mcghee and Teevan found these people were more likely to conform
• NSI underlies conformity for some more than others
• one general theory cant be applied