Variables affecting conformity Flashcards
What are the three situational variables affecting conformity?
Group size, unanimity, and task difficulty
Explain how group size influences conformity
Research suggests conformity rates increase as the size of the majority influence increases, but there is a point where further increases don’t increase conformity further (4 or 5)
How does Asch’s study support group size being a situational variable affecting conformity?
With one real participant and confederate conformity was low, increasing to 13% with two confederates and 32% with three confederates. Adding further confederates had no effect
Who performed a meta-analysis of Asch’s study and found evidence for group size affecting conformity peaking at four or five?
Bond and Smith
Explain how unanimity influences conformity
Conformity rates drop when majority influence is not unanimous, even if the dissenters do not agree with the participant
How does Asch’s study support unanimity as a variable affecting conformity?
If one confederate went against the other confederates and agreed with the participant, conformity dropped from 32% to 5.5%, and to 9% if the dissenter didn’t agree with the participant
Explain how task difficulty influences conformity
Greater conformity rates are seen when task difficulty increases because the answer is less obvious and individuals want to be right, so they look to others for guidance
How does Asch’s study support task difficulty as a variable affecting conformity?
Participants were more likely to conform to wrong answers when he increased the task difficulty
What three individual factors could influence conformity?
Gender, mood and culture
What are the two types of cultures regarding conformity?
Collectivist and individualist
In what internal state are individuals more likely to conform and why?
A good mood; possibly because they are more amenable and likely to agree with others
Which gender conforms more, why, and who suggested this?
Females; they are socialised into more submissive roles and so greater conformity might be expected of them, and they are socialised to place more emphasis on the quality of relationships with others and take responsibility for these (Eagly)
