(1) Social Influence

Norms

A behaviour that society or a group regularly or usually carries out

Influence

to affect the behaviour or actions of someone or something

Normative Social Influence

form of influence whereby an individual conforms with the expectation of the majority in order to gain approval or to avoid social disapproval

Informative Social Influence

form of influence that is the result of a desire to be right, looking to others as a way of gaining evidence of reality

How many types of conformity are there

2, compliance and Internalisation

Compliance

occurs when an individual accepts influence because they hope to achieve a favourable reaction from those around them. This results in changing outward (public) behaviour but not changing private attitudes

Conformity

form of social influence that results from exposure to the majority position and leads to compliance with that position. It is the tendency for people to adopt the behaviour, attitudes and values of other members of a reference group

Example of compliance

Someone laughing at a joke because everyone in the class is but internally not finding the joke funny. They have displayed compliance because they have a public view that the joke was funny and is only laughing to not seem rude however they privately believe that the joke was not funny and therefore have a different public view to their private view

Internalisation

When an individual accepts influence because the content of the attitude or behaviour proposed is consistent with their own value system. This results in a complete change in both public behaviour and private attitudes

Example of Internalisation

A group of people like a film that you initially don’t like, they explain to you why the film is their favourite and convinces you to change your view on the film. You realise that the film is not actually what you initially thought it was. This results in you having a different view on the film. Where conformity has happened is when the view on the film has changed resulting in the public and private view to both be the same.

Difference between Internalisation and compliance

Compliance is following the general norm of society in fear of being rejected resulting in having a different public and private view whilst Internalisation is where a person changes both their public behaviour and private belief to align with a group