Types Of Conformity Flashcards
What are the types of conformity?
Internalisation
Identification
Compliance
What is meant by compliance?
Shallowest level of conformity
Involves ‘going along with others’ in public, but not changing private beliefs
Behaviour stops as soon as group pressure stops
Usually result of NSI & short-term
What is meant by identification?
Middle level of conformity - person changes public behaviour & private belief only whilst in presence in group
Short-term change & result of NSI
We conform to this group bc there’s something we value in group
What is meant by internalisation?
Deepest level of conformity -person genuinely accepts group norms
Person changes public behaviour & private beliefs
Usually long-term & due to ISI
What is Normative Social Influence?
Person conforms to be accepted & feel they belong to group (desire to be liked)
Person conforms as it’s socially rewarding or to avoid social rejection - not fitting in
Associated with compliance & identification - short-term explanation of conformity
Most likely to occur with people who most concerned about rejection
What is Informational Social Influence?
When person conforms to gain knowledge or they believe someone else is ‘right’
Associated with internalisation
Semi-permanent change in behaviour & belief as person adopts new belief system
ISI most likely to happen in situations new to person or isn’t clear what’s right
Evaluate research into social conformity
Limitation - Asch’s experiment used Biased sample
E.g. - Asch used 123 male college students from USA
Ex - We can’t generalise results to other populations, e.g. female students as we’re unable to conclude whether female students would’ve conformed in similar way to male students.
As result, Asch’s sample lacks population validity & further research required to see whether males & females conform differently
Limitation - Asch’s experiment has low levels of ecological validity
E.g. - Line judgement task is artificial task, doesn’t reflect conformity of everyday life - task lacks mundane realism
Ex. - Unable to generalise results of Asch to other irl situations, like why people start smoking/drinking around friends, thus, limited application to everyday life
Limitation - Asch’s Line Study was ‘Child of its time’
E.g. - Research took place when conformity is USA was arguably higher.
Perrin & Spencer (1980) replicated study with maths & engineering students & found significantly lower levels of conformity
Ex. - Suggests Asch’s experiment lacks historical validity & conformity rate found in 1950 may not provide accurate reflection of conformity in modern times
Evaluate explanations for conformity
Strength - research support for ISI
E.g. - Lucas et al. (2006) asked students to give answers to maths problems that were easy or more difficult. There’s greater conformity to incorrect answers when they were difficult compared to easy. True for students who rated their maths poor.
Ex. - Shows people conform in situations where they feel they don’t know answers - exact outcome predicted by ISI explanation: we look to others & assume they know better than us & are right
Strength - research support for NSI
E.g. - Asch (1951) found many participants went along with clearly wrong answer just because others did. He asked why & they said they felt self-conscious giving correct answer & afraid of disapproval.
Ex. - shows people conform in situations to avoid social rejection - exact outcome predicted by NSI
Limitation - ISI & NSI work together
E.g. - more often both ISI & NSI involved. Conformity reduced when there’s other dissenting participant in Asch’s experiment - may reduce power of NSI or ISI
Ex. - Isn’t always possible to be sure whether NSI/ISI at work. This is case in lab studies & event truer irl conformity situations outside lab. Casts serious doubt over view of ISI & NSI as 2 process operating independently in conforming behaviour.
