Types of conformity

conformity

= a change in a persons behaviour or opinions as a result of real or imagined pressure from a person or a group of people

Jenness 1932

conducted one of earliest experiments into conformity

used an ambiguous situation involving glass jar filled with 811 white beans

- sample of 101 psychology students individually estimated number of beans

- then discussed number in group of 3 to provide group estimate

- second opportunity of a group estimate

= purpose was to see if they changed their original answer when influenced by other people

(females were more likely to change answer)

conformity

= a change in a persons behaviour or opinions as a result of real or imagined pressure from a person or a group of people

Jenness 1932

conducted one of earliest experiments into conformity

used an ambiguous situation involving glass jar filled with 811 white beans

- sample of 101 psychology students individually estimated number of beans

- then discussed number in group of 3 to provide group estimate

- second opportunity of a group estimate

= purpose was to see if they changed their original answer when influenced by other people

(females were more likely to change answer)

types of conformity

1. compliance

2. internalisation

3. identification

1. compliance

= involved simply "going along with others" in public, but privately not changing personal opinions or behaviours

- only results in superficial change

- also means that a particular behaviour or opinion stops as soon as group pressure stops

2. internalisation

= occurs when a person genuinely accepts the group norms

- this results in a private (as well as public) change in opinions/behaviours

- change is likely to be permanent as attitudes have been internalised

i.e. becomes a part of the way that the person thinks, mindset has changed

- the change in opinions/behaviours persists even in the absence of other group members

3. identification

= sometimes we conform to the opinions/behaviours of a group because there is something about that group that we value

- we identify with the group and want to be a part of it

- may mean we publicly change our behaviours/opinions to achieve this goal, even if we don't privately agree with everything the group stands for

--> may result in internalisation, may not

outline the types of conformity

= compliance, internalisation + identification

explanations for conformity

Normative social influence

Informational social influence

Normative social influence (NSI)

= all about norms

i.e. what is "normal" or typical; behaviour for a social group

norms regulate behaviour of groups + individuals

- people prefer to gain social approval rather than be rejected, therefore NSI = EMOTIONAL, not cognitive

- most likely to occur in situations with strangers where you may feel concerned about REJECTION

- may also occur with people you know because we are most concerned about the SOCIAL APPROVAL of our friends

--> also might be more pronounced in stressful situations where people have a greater need for social support

TEMPORARY

Informational social influence (ISI)

= where you look to someone else to inform you how to behave

i.e. following the majority of a group behaviour because you believe that what they're doing is right

- COGNITIVE process, to do with what you think

- most likely to happen in situations that are new to a person/ situations where there is some AMBIGUITY

- also typical in CRISIS SITUATIONS where decisions have to be made quickly

- occurs when one person/group is regarded as being more of an expert

Believe that they are right, and so mimic actions because they believe action is right

PERMANENT

Outline explanations of conformity

Conformity is where a person's behaviour or opinions change as a result of a real or imagined pressure from a person or a group of people, and this can be in the form of compliance, identification, or internalisation.

One explanation for conformity is Normative social behaviour. This is where an individual mimics the behaviour of a group because it is the typical norm, and they would rather gain the groups approval by acting like them than be rejected for acting differently. This explanation for conformity is emotional as the individual conforms to the group as they are concerned about the approval of the group, and this can be pronounced in stressful situations where there is a greater need for social support but is temporary.

Another explanation for conformity is Informational social influence. This where you look to others to inform you how to behave because you believe that their actions or beliefs are correct. Isi is a cognitive processes and is most likely to occur when the individual is in a new situation where they are uncertain how to behave. ISI occurs when one person in the group is regarded as being more knowledgeable than the rest and this is likely to occur more frequently in a crisis situation when the decisions have to be made quickly.

A03 - STRENGTH of NSI

P

= there is a wide variety of research to support the idea of NSI

EV

= for example, Asch conducted a study where a group of confederates would answer the obviously wrong answer to the question "which line matches the example", misleading participants. As a result, 36% of the participants conformed to the wrong answer and 75% of participants conformed at least once

EX

= consequently, it can be assumed that the participants changed their answers in order to gain the approval of the majority of the group, showing NSI as they went along with the typical behaviour

C

= however, it could be argued that Asch's study is not reliable as it is gender and culture bound and lacks temporal validity. He used a biased sample of 50 male students from the same US college, and the study took place in 1951 when conformity rates were exceptionally high due to paranoia about communisms. Therefore the findings cannot be generalised

LB

= despite this, the supporting research suggest that NSI is a reliable explanation for conformity

A03 - STRENGTH of ISI

P

= there is also a bank of reliable research that supports ISI as an explanation for conformity

EV

= Lucas et al (2006) asked students to give answers to mathematical problems that were easy or more difficult to answer

EX

= he found that the participants conformed more when the math problem was more difficult compared to when the math problems were considered easter due to the students being ambiguous about the answer, and not wanting to appear wrong. this was particularly true for those who rates their maths ability as poor

EXT

= in addition to this, Jeness' bean jar experiment, where participants were asked to estimate the number of beans in a glass jar individually and then in groups, also supports ISI. Jenness found that the participants would change their answers to roughly the same as other peoples because the ambiguity of the situation made them look to others for the right answer

LB

= these studies successfully show how people conform in situations when they feel that they don't know the answers and allow themselves to be influence by others as they believe they're right, therefore demonstrating how ISI can also lead to internalisation by believing the wrong answers were right

A03 - Weakness

P

= however, some research shows that NSI does not affect everyones behaviour in the same way

EX

= people who have a need for association with others can be described as nAffilitators, who have a greater need to affiliation

EV

= for example, McGhee and Teevan (1967) found that students high in need for affiliation were more likely to conform

EX

= this shows that the desire to be liked underlies conformity for some people more than others, therefore suggesting there are individual differences in the way some people respond

C

= on the other hand, Shultz et. al's 2007 study found that when hotel guests saw a message that 75% of other hotel guests refused new towels for sustainability reasons, they too decided to keep their old ones. this suggests that NSI has ecological validity and can explain daily situations where people conform

LB

= although this is true, it could be argued that only a certain sample was used in this experiment as the study occurred within one hotel and therefore cannot be generalised as it does not consider a persons disposition