why do we conform Flashcards
lesson 2
What are the names of the scientists that developed the two process theory.
Deutsch and Gerard (1955)
What are the two reasons for conformity
The Desire to be accepted and the desire to be right
What is the need to be right
ISI (informational social influence)
What is the need to be liked
NSI ( normative social influence)
What is ISI in detail
It’s a cognitive process bc it’s to do what u think. The person conforms because they are unsure about how to behave, they look to others for info. The drive for conformity is the need to be right.
It is most likely when:
- the situation is ambiguous
- the situation is a crisis
- the situation is difficult
ISI is very likely to lead to internalisation
What is NSI in detail
NSI is all about norms. Norms regulate the behaviour of a group, so we tend to pay attention to them and copy them.
NSI is following the norm to ‘fit in’ and ‘be liked and accepted’ in a group.
Research says that people like others that are similar to them, and then they gain acceptance
NSI is likely to occur in situations where rejection is an option.
NSI can be more obvious in stressful situations, where people need more social support
NSI is more likely to lead to compliance
What are the strengths for NSI
It has research support.
NSI - Asch found that many of his participants went along with the wrong answer, bc other people did
These people feared rejection so agree with the wrong answer. The questions weren’t hard but they still confirmed due to NSI.
What are the strengths for ISI
it has research support.
ISI - Lucas et al (2006), he gave maths problems that were a mixture of easy and hard. Lucas found that conformity occurred more in questions that were difficult than easy. This was especially true about the people who thought their maths skills were poor. This study supports ISI bc this explanation of conformity suggests it is more likely to occur when the situation is difficult.in his study, the students that were poor in maths looked to others for assurance and more knowledge and were then right.
What is the weakness for NSI
Some research has shown that not every individual shows NSI, some people are not concerned with being liked, these people are less affected by NSI. However there are some people concerned with being liked. These are called nAffliators. These are people who have a greater need for affiliation and need be in a relationship with many others. nAffliators are more likely to conform. This means that nAffliators are more likely to conform than those who aren’t. This shows the NSI explanation could lack population validity.
What is the weakness for ISI
ISI doesn’t affect everyone like NSI doesn’t either. Asch (1955), found that students were not as conformist (28%) compared to othe rtypes of participants. (37%)
This suggest that even if the situation is difficult to read, we doesn’t always look towards others for help and will not always conform.
What are the similar weaknesses between NSI and ISI
Rather than seeing both NSI and ISI as individual processes on why we conform, both processes may actually be involved. In Asch’s experiment, conformity was reduced when there was one participant who disagrees with majority. In this case, that person could reduce the power of NSI, because he is providing social support to the participant or even may reduce ISI bc the participant now has an alternative source of info. This shows that it is not always clear whether it is NSI or ISI at work in conformity situations.
What is another similar weakness between NSI and ISI
Both of them have explanations that are lab studies that can lack ecological validity. We cannot be sure that participants behave the same way outside of thr lab as well. For example, in Asch’s study, they were given lines to measure and tell the length of, that happens rarely in the real world.
