types of conformity

Question 1

conformity

Answer 1

a change in behaviour or belief as a result of real or imagined group pressure

Question 2

types of conformity

Answer 2

the different ways in which people respond to group pressure

Question 3

internalisation

Answer 3

where the behaviour or belief of the majority is accepted by the individual and becomes part of his or her own belief system

Question 4

identification

Answer 4

when an individual adopts a role as a member of a group, the individual changes his/her behaviour or publicly stated beliefs specifically because there is something about the group which they value, seeing other members of the group as role models

Question 5

compliance

Answer 5

• where the individual changes her/his behaviour to fit in with the group
• public behaviour is changed whilst a different private view is maintained

Question 6

lab experiment

Answer 6

a study carried out in a controlled setting. Psychologists control the independent variable to see what effect this has on the dependent variable.

Question 7

confederates

Answer 7

colleagues of the experimenter who pretend to be participants

Question 8

critical trials

Answer 8

the episodes where the confederates made the same wrong choice in order to see whether participants would stick to what they knew to be right

Question 9

distortion of judgement

Answer 9

participants yield to the majority view because they are not sure about the accuracy of their own judgement

Question 10

distortion of action

Answer 10

participants yield to the majority view because they continue to trust their own judgement privately but change their behaviour to avoid disapproval

Question 11

variables affecting conformity (3)

Answer 11

• unanimity
• group size
• task difficulty

Question 12

ethical issues

Answer 12

a question of right and wrong arising from the procedure of a study

Question 13

unanimty

Answer 13

when everyone appears to be of one mind

Question 14

locus of control

Answer 14

the extent to which someone believes that s/he has control over her/his life

Question 15

temporal validity

Answer 15

concerns the extent to which findings from a research study can be generalised to other historical times and eras

Question 16

ecological validity

Answer 16

concerns the extent to which findings can be generalised to other settings and situations

Question 17

demand characteristics

Answer 17

• clues within the study which give participants an idea about what the experimenter expects of them
• these clues lead them to develop a belief about their participation in the study
• a belief about their participation may lead participants to change their behaviour

Question 18

meta-analysis

Answer 18

combining secondary data from a number of studies with the same procedure in order to produce an overall conclusion