Types of Conformity Flashcards
What is conformity?
Conformity is a change in a person’s behaviour or opinions as a result of real or imagined pressure from a person or group (Elliot Aronson, 2011).
What are the three types of conformity suggested by Herbert Kelman (1958)?
Internalisation, Identification, and Compliance.
What is internalisation?
A deep type of conformity where a person genuinely accepts the majority view as correct. This leads to a permanent change in behaviour, even when the group is absent.
What is identification?
A moderate type of conformity where a person acts in the same way as a group because they value it and want to be part of it, even if they don’t fully agree with everything the group believes.
What is compliance?
A superficial and temporary type of conformity where a person outwardly goes along with the majority but privately disagrees. The behaviour change only lasts while the group is present.
What are the two explanations for conformity proposed by Deutsch and Gerard (1955)?
Informational Social Influence (ISI) and Normative Social Influence (NSI).
What is Informational Social Influence (ISI)?
Conforming because we believe the majority is correct. We accept their opinion because we want to be right.
What type of conformity does ISI usually lead to?
Internalisation.
When is ISI most likely to occur?
In new or ambiguous situations, crisis situations, or when we perceive others as experts.
What is Normative Social Influence (NSI)?
Conforming to be accepted, gain social approval, and avoid rejection.
What type of conformity does NSI usually lead to?
Compliance.
When is NSI most likely to occur?
In situations with strangers (to avoid rejection), with people we know (to gain approval), or in stressful situations (where social support is needed).
How does Lucas et al. (2006) support ISI?
They found that students conformed more to incorrect answers in difficult maths problems, especially those who rated their mathematical ability as poor.
What does the Lucas et al. (2006) study suggest about ISI?
That people conform when they feel uncertain and believe others know better.
How does Asch (1951) support NSI?
Participants conformed to a clearly incorrect answer because they felt self-conscious and feared disapproval.
What happened when Asch (1951) asked participants to write down their answers instead of saying them out loud?
Conformity rates fell to 12.5%, showing that NSI occurs because people fear social rejection.
How do individual differences affect NSI?
Some people are more affected by NSI than others, particularly those with a higher need for social approval (nAffiliators).
What did McGhee and Teevan (1967) find about individual differences in NSI?
Students with a high need for affiliation were more likely to conform.
How do individual differences affect ISI?
Some people are less affected by ISI than others. For example, Asch (1955) found that students conformed less (28%) than other participants (37%).
What did Perrin and Spencer (1980) find about ISI in science and engineering students?
They found very little conformity, suggesting that ISI does not affect everyone equally.
Do ISI and NSI always operate separately?
No, they often work together.
How does a dissenting participant in Asch’s experiment support the interaction between ISI and NSI?
A dissenter could reduce NSI (by providing social support) or reduce ISI (by offering an alternative source of information).
Why is it difficult to determine whether ISI or NSI is influencing behaviour?
Because both processes often occur simultaneously in real-life situations, making it hard to distinguish between them.
