Types of conformity

Question 1

What are the two forms of social influence?

Answer 1

1. Conformity - Behaviour change from social majority pressures - we don’t always need to be told what to do or to do it. We may conform to fell accepted, liked, seem ‘normal’ etc
2. Obedience - behaviour change based on instruction from authority, this is a direct order, usually the person issuing the direction is a dorm or authority or has the power to punish disobedience.

Question 2

What is social influence?

Answer 2

Social influence refers to the efforts of others to change ones beliefs, attitudes, perceptions or behaviours

Question 3

What do psychologists believe about social influence?

Answer 3

Psychologists believe that we are all subject to the forces of social influence. Many of our everyday decisions are the result of pressures to conform to the opinions and behaviours of other people

Question 4

According to who there are three types of compliance?

Answer 4

Kelman 1958

Question 5

What are these 3 ways people conform?

Answer 5

1. Compliance
2. Identification
3. Internalisation

Question 6

What is compliance?

Answer 6

When they conform to the group but privately maintain they own views.
The individual changes their views and their behaviours does not match opinions.
It is temporary
For example, you may say you like rnb music because other people in your class like it, however privately you can’t stand it.

Question 7

What is identification?

Answer 7

When we conform to the opinion/behaviour of a group because there is something about that group that we value (we accept their point of view because we want to be like them)
By taking on their attitudes or behaviours the individual feels more a part of the group/closer to the individual even if they do not privately agree with everything the group stands for
Its a moderate form of conformity, it lasts as long as we value that group or person

Question 8

What is internalisation?

Answer 8

When an individual conforms to the groups as they share their views. They publicly change their behaviour to fit in with the group while also agreeing with them privately
This is the deepest level of conformity where the beliefs of the group become part of the individual’s own belief system
It is permanent
For example, converting t a religion after being influenced by a group of that religion

Question 9

According to Deutsch and Gerard (1954) what are the two main reasons why people conform?

Answer 9

• The need to be right (informational social influence)
• The need to be liked (Normative social influence)

Question 10

What is informational social influence?

Answer 10

It occurs when an individual feels that the other group members must be correct. It is the belief that the others in the group must know more than them so they conform to be correct.
- It most often occurs in the case of difficult tasks
- It is most likely to happen in situations that are new to a person (so they don’t know what is right)

Question 11

What type of conformity does informational social influence lead to?

Answer 11

Internalisation - people are happy to take answers/behaviours of others as correct and so internalise this information. It is a permanent change

Question 12

What is normative social influence?

Answer 12

The need to feel solidarity with the group to avoid alienation/rejection
They are worried that their response could have a negative impact on the group so they confirm to avoid this.
For example a person may feel pressurised to smoke because the rest of their friends are

Question 13

What type of conformity does normative social influence lead to?

Answer 13

It tends to lead to compliance because the person begins to smoke just for show but deep down they wish not to smoke. This means any change of behaviour is temporary

Question 14

Research to support normative social influence?

Answer 14

A strength of normative social influence is that evidence supports it as an explanation of conformity
Asch (1951) interviewed his participants, some said they conformed because they felt self conscious giving the correct answer and they were afraid of disapproval
When participants wrote their answers down, conformity fell to 12.5%. This is because giving answers privately meant there was no normative group pressure
This shows that conformity is due to a desire not to be rejected by the group for disagreeing with them (NSI)

Question 15

Research to support informational social influence?

Answer 15

Lucas et al (2006) asked students to give answers to mathematical problems that were easy or more difficult and he found greater conformity to incorrect answers when they were more difficult
This is because when the questions were easy the participants were certain about their answers but when the questions were hard the situation became unclear. The participants did not want to be wrong, so they relied on the answers they were given.
This shows that informational social influence is a valid explanation of conformity because the results are what ISI wold predict.

Question 16

What is a limitation of normative social influence?

Answer 16

One limitation is that NSI does not predict conformity in every case this is due to individual difference
Some people are greatly concerned with being liked by others, these people are called nAffiliators they have such a strong need to relate to other people
Paul McGhee and Richard Teevan (1967) found that students who were nAffiliators were more likely to conform. This shows that NSI underlines conformity for some people more than it does for others
Therefore, there are individual differences in conformity that can’t fully be explained by one general theory of situational pressures