Types of Conformity and Explanations of Conformity

Question 1

Outline compliance as a type of conformity

Answer 1

• Occurs when someone conforms as they hope to gain a favourable reaction from others.
• So the attitude is adopted not because of its content, but because of the rewards associated with it

Question 2

Outline identification as a type of conformity

Answer 2

Where someone adopts a behaviour as they want to be associated with a person/group

Question 3

Outline internalisation as a type of conformity

Answer 3

When someone conforms as the content of the attitude/behaviour proposed is consistent with their own value system

Question 4

Outline normative social influence (NSI) as a explanation of conformity

Answer 4

• Want to be liked and accepted by the rest of the group
• This means we will say or do things for popularity within that group

Question 5

Outline informational social influence as a explanation of conformity

Answer 5

• Need to be right
• When we are in an ‘ambiguous’ situation, we will see what others do and assume they’re right

Question 6

Give evaluation for informational social influence (research support)

Answer 6

• Lucas et al gave students a maths test, with easy and hard questions. They conformed to the wrong answer more frequently for the difficult questions. This was truer for students who rated their maths ability as poor
• Showing that in an ambiguous situation, we look at others and assume they’re right so we conform as we also want be right, which is suggested by ISI.

Question 7

Give evaluation for informational social influence (moderated by type of task)

Answer 7

• A limitation of ISI is that the features of a task can moderate the impact of conformity.
• e.g. Some questions can be determined through objective means (statistics) while others are subjective (whether something is fun). Consequently, these kinds of judgements must be made on the basis of social consensus.
• This suggests that there are situations where the need to be right (ISI) can’t be applied as there is no right answer, showing that ISI can’t explain conformity in every situation

Question 8

Give evaluation for normative social influence (research support)

Answer 8

• Schultz et al conducted a study where hotel guests were given the normative message that 75% of guests reused their towels. This led to a 25% decrease in their own towel use.
• This supports NSI as people changed their behaviour to fit in with what they consider to be normal, which is what NSI predicts will happen

Question 9

Give evaluation for normative social influence (individual differences)

Answer 9

• A limitation of NSI is that it doesn’t affect everyone in the same way
• People who aren’t concerned with being liked are less likely to conform than those who care about being liked. Those who have a high need for association with others are called nAffiliators. e.g. McGhee and Teevan found people with a high need for affiliation are more likely to conform
• This shows that the desire to be liked underlies conformity for some more than others, meaning there are individual differences in the way people respond, so NSI can’t explain conformity for everyone