Conformity

What is conformity?

Conformity is a type of social influence in which a person changes their attitudes, beliefs, or behaviour to match group norms or yield to group pressure.

Who proposed the three types of conformity?

Herbert Kelman proposed three types of conformity in 1958: compliance, identification, and internalisation.

What are Kelman’s three types of conformity?

Compliance, identification, and internalisation.

Which type of conformity is the deepest?

Internalisation is the deepest type of conformity.

Which type of conformity is the shallowest?

Compliance is the shallowest type of conformity.

Which type of conformity is between compliance and internalisation?

Identification is the middle level of conformity.

What is internalisation?

Internalisation occurs when a person genuinely accepts the beliefs, values, or norms of a group.

Does internalisation involve a public or private change?

Internalisation involves both a public change in behaviour and a private change in beliefs or opinions.

Why is internalisation usually permanent?

It is usually permanent because the group’s beliefs have become part of the individual’s own belief system.

Does internalisation persist when group members are absent?

Yes. Internalisation continues even when the group is no longer present.

What is identification?

Identification is conforming because a person values membership of a group and wants to be associated with it.

Does identification always involve a permanent private change of belief?

No. A person may act like the group publicly without genuinely changing their private views.

When is identification most likely to occur?

Identification is most likely when a person values belonging to, or being associated with, a particular group.

What is an example of identification?

Zimbardo’s guards and prisoners adopting their assigned social roles is an example of identification.

What is compliance?

Compliance is publicly agreeing with or following a group while privately disagreeing with it.

Is compliance a public or private change?

Compliance is a public change in behaviour without a genuine private change in beliefs.

Why is compliance temporary?

It is temporary because the person usually returns to their original view when group pressure is removed.

What is an example of compliance?

Participants in Asch’s line-judgement study agreeing with an incorrect majority answer are an example of compliance.

What is informational social influence?

Informational social influence is conforming because a person believes the group has better knowledge or knows the correct answer.

When is informational social influence most likely?

It is most likely in difficult, unfamiliar, or ambiguous situations where a person is uncertain about the correct answer.

Which type of conformity does informational social influence usually lead to?

Informational social influence usually leads to internalisation.

Why can informational social influence lead to internalisation?

A person genuinely accepts the group’s view because they believe the group is correct.

What is normative social influence?

Normative social influence is conforming because a person wants to be liked, accepted, or avoid rejection from a group.

When is normative social influence most likely?

It is most likely in unambiguous situations where the correct answer is clear but a person wants social approval.

Which type of conformity does normative social influence usually lead to?

Normative social influence usually leads to compliance.

Why does normative social influence often result in compliance rather than internalisation?

The person conforms publicly to gain acceptance or avoid rejection but may privately disagree with the group.

What individual difference can make normative social influence stronger?

Normative social influence is stronger for people who strongly care about group approval and acceptance.

What individual difference can make informational social influence stronger?

Informational social influence is stronger when a situation is genuinely ambiguous and the person is uncertain.

What evaluation point challenges NSI and ISI as general explanations?

Individual differences and situational differences mean that NSI and ISI may not explain conformity equally well for all people or all situations.

Who conducted the classic line-judgement study of conformity?

Solomon Asch conducted the classic conformity study.

When was Asch’s original conformity study published?

Asch’s original conformity research was published in 1951.

What was the aim of Asch’s conformity study?

To investigate whether individuals would conform to an incorrect majority answer in an unambiguous line-judgement task.

What type of situation did Asch use to study conformity?

An unambiguous situation in which the correct answer was obvious.

What were participants asked to do in Asch’s study?

They had to say aloud which comparison line matched a standard line in length.

Who were the confederates in Asch’s study?

Confederates were people who appeared to be participants but were instructed to give predetermined answers.

What did Asch’s confederates do on critical trials?

They all gave the same obviously incorrect answer before the real participant responded.

What percentage of responses were conformist in Asch’s study?

Participants gave the incorrect majority answer on 36.8% of critical trials.

What proportion of participants conformed at least once in Asch’s study?

About 75% of participants conformed at least once.

What proportion of participants never conformed in Asch’s study?

About 25% of participants never conformed on any critical trial.

What did Asch’s post-study interviews suggest about why people conformed?

Many participants said they conformed to avoid rejection or standing out from the group.

Which explanation of conformity is supported by Asch’s participants saying they wanted to avoid rejection?

Normative social influence.

What effect did group size have in Asch’s variations?

Conformity increased as the majority grew to around three confederates, then increased very little with additional confederates.

How many confederates were enough to create substantial conformity in Asch’s group-size variation?

A majority of around three confederates was sufficient to create substantial conformity.

Why did conformity not keep increasing greatly after three or four confederates?

Once there was a clear majority, adding more people made little difference to the social pressure experienced by the participant.

What is unanimity in conformity research?

Unanimity means that every member of the majority gives the same answer.

What happened when Asch introduced a dissenting confederate?

Conformity fell substantially because the majority was no longer unanimous.

Did the dissenting confederate have to give the correct answer to reduce conformity?

No. Conformity was reduced even when the dissenter gave a different incorrect answer, because unanimity had been broken.

Why does a dissenter reduce conformity?

A dissenter provides social support and shows that it is possible to disagree with the majority.

What research supports the idea that conformity levels can vary across time and cultures?

Perrin and Spencer’s 1980 replication found very low conformity among British engineering students, unlike Asch’s original American study.

Who replicated Asch’s study using British engineering students?

Perrin and Spencer replicated Asch’s study in 1980.

What did Perrin and Spencer find in their replication of Asch’s study?

Only one participant conformed in 396 trials.

What does Perrin and Spencer’s finding suggest about Asch’s results?

It suggests that conformity levels may depend on historical period, culture, or the type of participants tested.

Why might conformity have been higher in Asch’s original study than in Perrin and Spencer’s replication?

Asch’s study took place in 1950s America, which may have had a stronger culture of conformity than Britain in 1980.

What ethical issue is associated with Asch’s study?

Asch deceived participants because they believed the confederates were genuine participants.

Why might Asch’s deception have caused harm?

Participants may have experienced stress, anxiety, embarrassment, or humiliation when faced with an obviously incorrect unanimous majority.

Why might Asch’s study face difficulties with modern ethical standards?

The deception and possible psychological stress would require careful justification and protection procedures and may not be approved in the same form today.

What is a limitation of Asch’s sample?

The study used only male participants, limiting how well the findings generalise to women or mixed-gender groups.

Why does using only male participants limit Asch’s study?

The findings may not accurately represent conformity in females or in mixed-gender social groups.

What is a strength of Asch’s study?

Asch used a controlled procedure, allowing researchers to manipulate variables such as group size and unanimity and identify their effects on conformity.

What is a limitation of Asch’s line-judgement task?

Matching line lengths is artificial and may not reflect conformity in meaningful real-life decisions.

Why is Asch’s task described as unambiguous?

The correct matching line was clear, so participants did not need to rely on others for accurate information