Types of conformity

Question 1

What is conformity?

Answer 1

Yielding to the pressure from the majority group by changing beliefs and behaviours

Question 2

What are three types of conformity?

Answer 2

-Internalisation, compliance and identification

Question 3

Explain what is meant by compliance

Answer 3

• when an individual changes their behaviour or opinions publicly to fit in and avoid ridicule. However their private thoughts and beliefs remain the same
• It is only a temporary form of conformity an does not happen when the individual is alone, only when the group is present

Question 4

Explain what is meant by identification?

Answer 4

• When an individual changes their behaviours or opinions both publicly and privately to match the groups opinions and behaviours as they want to be a part of the group.
• this change is only temporary and will only occur when the group is present.

Question 5

Explain what is meant by internalisation?

Answer 5

-A type of conformity where the individual will change their beliefs and behaviours both publicly and privately
as they accept the majority groups beliefs.

-this change is permanent and their behaviours or beliefs will change even when the group is not present and they are alone.

Question 6

Outline research evidence from Jeness

Answer 6

• Participants had to estimate the number of jelly beans in a jar and then discuss their estimates in either a large group or several smaller groups to identify group estimates.
• Participants were then asked to make another estimation.

Findings:
-Jennes found that majority of the participants would change their first estimations closer to the group estimates in their second estimation and that females would conform more than males

Question 7

Outline Asch’s Aim and method

Answer 7

Aim: To investigate if people would conform to the majority during an unambiguous task even when the majority are clearly incorrect

Method: - A controlled laboratory experiment was conducted. the DV was the level of conformity and this was measured by whether the participants would give an incorrect answer or not. The IV was whether the actors gave incorrect answers or not.

• 123 american male students were participants in the experiment
• they were told they were taking part in a visual perception test.
• Each participant was placed in a group of 7-9 male confederates where they had to sit in line.
• They were then asked to take a test which involved identifying which line out of three line was identical to another line they were also presented with and their were 18 trials.
• the participants would give an answer after each confederate had given theirs.
• the confederates answered correctly the first 6 trials and then all of them gave identical incorrect answer on the last 12 trials
• Asch then recorder how many times each participant gave the wrong answer.

Question 8

Outline Asch’s Findings

Answer 8

• there was a 32% conformity rate during the last 12 trials where the confederates would give identical incorrect answers.
• 75% conformed at least once and 25% never conformed
• 5% of participants conformed to all 12 wrong answers
• Participants were found to conform to avoid ridicule but they did not believe they were correct when giving their answers but some had doubts about their perception.

Question 9

Outline Asch’s conclusion

Answer 9

The majority influence does affect an individual and they will conform to them even when they are obviously wrong to be accepted and avoid ridicule.

Question 10

AO3 for Asch

Answer 10

• Jeness
• Lacks population validity/androcentric
• Lacks ecological validity
• Perrin and Spencer

Question 11

What are the other variations did Asch investigate?

Answer 11

Unanimity- if the group were not unanimous and some confederates would give different answers conformity would decrease.

Group size- If the group size was smaller conformity would decrease vice versa

Task difficulty- If the task was more difficult which Asch did by making the comparison lines more similar conformity increased.