Types & Explanations Of Conformity Flashcards
What is conformity?
It is yielding to group pressure.
It is also known as ‘majority influence’.
Who founded the three types of conformity?
Kelman
What are the three types of conformity?
Compliance
Internalisation
Identification
What is compliance?
Lowest levels of conformity.
Changes their public behaviour but not their private beliefs.
Usually a short term change and often the result of NSI.
May not necessarily with the behaviour/belief
What is identification?
The middle level of conformity.
Changes their public behaviour and their private beliefs.
Only while they are in the presence of the group they are identifying with
Short-term change
NSI usually in result
What is internalisation?
Deepest level of conformity
Changes both their public behaviour and private beliefs
Usually a long-term change
Often the result of ISI (the want to be right)
What is normative social influence?
The desire to be liked - when we conform to fit in with the group because we do not want to appear foolish or left out
What is informational social influence?
The desire to be right - when we conform because we are unsure of the situation, so we look to others who we believe may have more information than us.
Who is Jenness - 1932?
The first psychologist to study conformity
What did Jenness’ experiment consist of?
His experiment was an ambiguous situation involving a glass bottle filled with beans. He asked participants individually to estimate how many beans the bottle contained.
He then put the group in a room with the bottle, and asked them to provide a group estimate through discussion.
Jenness - findings
Interviewed the participants individually again, and asked if they would like to change their original estimates, or stay with the group’s estimate. Almost all changes their individual guesses to be closer to the group estimate.
Strengths for ISI
P - Research support for ISI
E - Lucas (2006) gave students maths problems to solve. Some were easy and some were harder. He found that ppts conformed more when they were given harder maths questions to answer than when they were given easy questions.
Strengths for NSI
P - Research support
E - Linkenback & Perkins (2003) found that adolescents exposed to the message that most of their age peers do not smoke were less likely to start smoking
P - Real world applications such as making people behave more responsibly
E - Nolan et al investigated whether people detected the influence of social norms on their energy conservation behaviour. They found that people believed the behaviour of their neighbours had the least impact, but results showed it had the strongest impact.
Limitations of NSI
P - Individual differences affect NSI
E - McGhee & Teevan found that some people have a greater need to be liked than others. They called them nAffiliators, and they are more likely to conform.
