types of conformity + explanations for conformity Flashcards
what is internalisation?
An individual accepts group norms, which causes a public and private change in behaviour.
Change is permanent and stays even without the group because attitudes are now apart of how the person thinks (internalisation).
What is identification?
An individual identifies with a group they value, they want to be apart of it by publicly changing their opinions/behaviour but privately not agreeing with everything the group stands for.
What is compliance?
An individual fears disapproval and social rejection so they change their opinions/behaviours publicly but not privately. Its a superficial change and the behaviour/opinion ceases after group pressure ceases: a group asks you to work with them and you agree ,even thought you didn’t want to, to avoid conflict
What are two influences that cause conformity?
normative and informational social influence
What’s informational social influence(ISI)?
occurs when an individual conforms to a groups behaviours/opinions because they think the group have accurate information. Occurs in ambiguous(uncertain) situations where people look to others for guidance: you don’t know an answer in class so you go along with the rest of the class since they’ve all given an answers. ISI leads to internalisation
What is normative social influence(NSI)?
It occurs when an individual conforms to a groups behaviours/opinions to fit into social norms. It usually happens in situations where you don’t know the norms so you follow others to avoid social disapproval: a person wearing trendy outfits even though they prefer a different style: NSI leads to compliance.
Give one example of a study that supports NSI
Asch’s study(1951)-many participants conformed to the wrong answer because they feared social disapproval. When participants wrote answers(no normative pressure) conformity fell to 12.5%=showed some conformity is due to not wanting to be rejected by the group for disagreeing with them.
Give one example of a study that supports ISI
Research support-Lucas et al.(2006)-participants conformed more to wrong answers when maths problems were difficult=ambiguous situation. Supports ISI since results were what ISI would predict.
Give one limitation of a dissenter in NSI and ISI
A dissenter may reduce the power of NSI/ISI=ISI and NSI are hard to separate in real life situations and mostly operate together.
Give one limitation of individuals in NSI
Individual Differences-nAffiliators-strong need to relate to people(people pleasers).McGhee and Teevan- students who were nAffiliators were more likely to conform.This shows NSI heavily influences conformity for some people more than others - some people are people pleasers which affects conformity.
Evaluate NSI and ISI
Lucas et al(2006)-Its difficult to separate NSI and ISI, but Asch’s research supports NSI(fear of disapproval influences conformity) and ISI(you assume group knows better than you).Overall both are useful- used to explain conformity in real life situations and studies.
