Types/Explanations of Conformity

Question 1

define social influence

3

Answer 1

human behaviour that is affected by other people and the social context in which this occurs

how others influence what we think and do

examples = conformity + obedience

Question 2

define conformity

4

Answer 2

a form of social influence involving a change in belief or behaviour in order to align with a group

such a change is a result of exposure to the majority position

a person that conforms is yielding to real or imagined group pressure

aka majority influence

Question 3

types of conformity

4

Answer 3

Kelman (1958) proposed 3 types of conformity….

• compliance
• identification
• internalisation

Question 4

what is compliance?

4

Answer 4

the shallowest level of conformity

public not private acceptance

does not result in a change of underlying attitude, only the views expressed in public change

individuals go along with a group by adopting their beliefs and behaviours in order to gain approval or avoid disapproval because fitting in is seen as desirable

Question 5

what is identification?

4

Answer 5

individuals go along with a group (by adopting their beliefs and behaviours) because they want to be associated with and feel apart of that group

has an element of internalisation as they’re accepting the attitudes and behaviours they’re adopting as right and true

has an element of compliance because the purpose of doing so is to be accepted as a member of the group

EXAMPLE = a child may start smoking because ‘cool kids’ do it and they want to be seen as a cool kid

Question 6

what is internalisation?

4

Answer 6

deepest level of conformity, aka true conformity

individuals go along with a group due to acceptance of their views as right and true

can lead to both public and private acceptance

especially likely if the group is generally trustworthy in their views

Question 7

explanations of conformity

3

Answer 7

the dual process model by Deutsch and Gerard (1955) identifies two explanations for conformity….

• normative social influence
• informational social influence

Question 8

normative social influence

7

Answer 8

conforming to be liked or accepted — individuals desire to fit in and gain approval or avoid being rejected and left out

this is because belonging to a group can be rewarding and as a social species, humans have a fundamental need for companionship and a fear of rejection

a way to gain acceptance from a group is to agree with them

individual must believe they’re under surveillance by the group for NSI to occur

a person will conform in public but will not necessarily internalise or change their underlying views — conformity is temporary as it depends on the groups presence

occurs in unambiguous situations

explains compliance

Question 9

informational social influence

5

Answer 9

conforming to be right — individuals desire to be correct so accept others as evidence about reality

likely in ambiguous situations where the individual is unsure on what is right, so will look to others for guidance and to reduce uncertainty as the majority are likely to be correct

a person might do this because they feel that others are more knowledgeable than themselves

leads to both public and private acceptance as the person believes the opinions and behaviours they adopt to be true

explains internalisation

Question 10

TYPES OF CONFORMITY

x3 evaluation points

Answer 10

problems distinguishing between compliance and internalisation

research support for compliance

research support for internalisation

Question 11

EVALUATION
problems distinguishing between compliance and internalisation

4

Answer 11

because it can be complicated to define and measure public compliance and private acceptance

for example, it’s assumed that a person who agrees with a group in public and private must have internalised the views of the group, thus believing these views to be right and true

however, it’s possible that they may have been merely complying in public but as a result of self perception (believing that because they agreed with the group, that must be what they truly believe) they come to subsequently accept that position as their own

therefore, the three types of conformity can be said to be unclear and may not be useful ways of categorising conformity

Question 12

EVALUATION
research support for compliance

7

Answer 12

the work of Asch (1951) can be used to support compliance

Asch used 123 male participants who had to estimate which of the 3 comparison lines was the same length as the target line

he found the conformity rate to be 33%, meaning that the real participants agreed with the incorrect answer in approx 1/3 of trials

they knew the correct answer as it was obvious yet they still gave the incorrect answer that the majority gave to avoid being rejected and disapproved of

this supports compliance because their underlying views did not change, they only accepted the majority viewpoint publicly — this was shown in interviews afterwards where many admitted to continuing to trust their own judgments privately

getting the answer wrong willingly suggests they were not conforming to be right, they were more focused on preventing disapproval — this is compliance

therefore, compliance can be said to be an accurate and legitimate type of conformity due to supporting research from Asch that gives it reliability

Question 13

EVALUATION
research support for internalisation

4

Answer 13

Asch’s study into variables affecting conformity provides support for internalisation

as task difficulty increased, so did conformity because the correct answer was more ambiguous and participants were less certain in their own judgement

this led them to look to the rest of the group for the answer and accept this answer as the correct one both publicly and privately — which is internalisation

therefore, internalisation can be said to be an accurate and legitimate type of conformity due to research from Asch that supports its existence

Question 14

EXPLANATIONS FOR CONFORMITY

x3 evaluation points

Answer 14

research support for ISI

research support for NSI

individual differences

Question 15

EVALUATION
research support for ISI

5

Answer 15

in one of Asch’s variations the task difficulty increased

as task difficulty increased, so did conformity because the correct answer was more ambiguous and unclear

this led to the participants looking to the group for the correct answer because they were uncertain in their own judgement

supports ISI as a reliable explanation of conformity because it suggests that the participants conformed in order to be right as they looked to the rest of the group for the correct answer

HOWEVER, a potential problem with this evidence is that it was obtained from studies conducted in controlled environments which means it may not be able to accurately explain conformity outside of a laboratory and therefore cannot fully support ISI, meaning that ISI should be viewed with caution when being used to explain conformity

Question 16

EVALUATION
research support for NSI

5

Answer 16

Linkenbach et al (2003) found that adolescents who were exposed to the simple message that the majority of their peers did not smoke were subsequently less likely to take up smoking themselves

supports NSI as an explanation for conformity because in this study, NSI was able to influence and indeed explain conformity behaviour

once the adolescents knew that most people didn’t smoke they were much less likely to begin smoking — presumably to fit in with the majority, which demonstrates NSI

Asch — original study

Schultz et al (2008) found that hotel guests exposed to the message that 75% of guests reused their towels rather than getting new ones reduced their own towel use by 25%

Question 17

EVALUATION
individual differences

4

Answer 17

as an explanation for conformity, NSI does not take into account individual differences

for example, some people are less likely to conform because they do not feel much of a need to be liked — fitting in is not important to them

these people are called affiliators, they are less likely to display conformity due to their personal values and personality traits

but NSI does not consider this so it may be limited in explaining conformity behaviour in all individuals