PSY220 - Conformity

conformity

a change in behavior or belief to accord to others

compliance

publicly acting in accord while privately disagreeing

obedience

acting in accord with a direct order

acceptance

conformity that involves both acting and believing, in accord with social pressure

Sherif’s study of norm formation

• autokinetic phenomenon

• observed social norm emerge after repeated trials

• dark room, pinpoint of light appears in front of you and disappears after moving erratically

• guess how far did it move, then joined with other participants who guess a wildly different number

• the result was that a norm emerged but it was false since the light never moved

mood linkage

just being around happy people can make us feel happier

chameleon effect

automatic behavior, done without any conscious intention

Asch’s study of group pressure

• asked which comparison line matches the standard line

• you say “line 2”, but everyone says “line 1”

• do you conform to the norm or stick to what you believe

• ¾ of people conform at least once, 37% of people conform every trial

• people start to think theyre not seeing thing right

Milgram’s obedience study

• demands of authority clash with the demands of conscience

• participants as teachers and using “shocks” as punishment for errors

• the most extreme shock is XXX (very scary)

• 63% of participants fully complied with the experimenter demands even when the student is screaming or crying or pleading

• there were some ethical issues surrounding

• create obedience

creating obedience

4 factors: victim’s emotional distance, closeness & legitimacy of authority, institutional authority, liberating effects of group influence

victim’s emotional distance

effects of depersonalization, it is easiest to abuse someone who is distant or depersonalized, participants acted with the greatest obedience and least compassion when they could not see the learner

closeness and legitimacy of authority

physical presence of the experimenter mattered, when given via telephone obedience dropped to 21%, if the original experimenter had to leave and was replaced 80% refused to comply fully

institutional authority

it could have been the prestige of Yale University that legitimized the commands, when switched out of Yale the obedience dropped to 48%

liberating effects of group influence

group conformity is very strong

behavior and attitudes

strength of behaviour and attitudes can be decreased when external influences are strong enough, Milgram used foot in the door phenomena, compliance breeds acceptance

power of situation

• immediate situational forces are powerful

• power of normative pressures

• Strong in beliefs and think you would never do something but you never know

• When the situation is strong enough you will obey

• So many factors play in to how strong a situation is (age, sex, etc.)

6 factors that predict conformity

group size, unanimity, cohesion, status, public response, no prior committment

group size

• 3-5 people/entities will have a larger effect than 1-2

• plateaus after 5 people

• 2 groups of 2 have a larger effect than 1 group of 4

• this is because it is perceived as 2 entities vs 1 entity

• better to have small groups or individuals than one large group

unanimity

• someone who punctures a group’s unanimity deflates its social power

• people will nearly always voice their convictions if just one other person has also differed from the majority

• need to feel some sort of connection/similarity to that person though

• not consciously aware of this

• it is difficult to be the minority of a group

cohesion

• a minority opinion from someone outside the groups we identify with sways us less than the same minority opinion from someone within our group

• the more cohesiveness a group exhibits the more power it gains over its members

cohesiveness

a “we feeling”, the extent to which members of a group are bonded together, such as by attraction for one another

status

• higher status people tend to have more impact

• prestige begets influence

public response

people conform more when they must respond in front of others rather than when they write their answer privately

no prior commitment

• Asch’s experiment, you respond first, and after hearing everyone have a differing opinion, you are given the chance to reconsider, would you back down now in the face of group pressure

• people usually do not, they have made a public commitment and they will stick to it

• making a public commitment makes people hesitant to back down

why do we conform?

normative and informational influence

normative influence

• “going along with the crowd” to avoid rejection, stay in people’s good graces, or gain their approval

• leads to public compliance

• conformity based on a person’s desire to fulfill others’ expectation

• stems from our desire to be liked

• social rejection is painful

informational influence

• conforming in order to be right in ambiguous situations

• leads to private acceptance

• results from accepting evidence about reality provided by other people

• stems from our desire to be right

conformity is greater

when people respond before a group OR when participants feel incompetent, the task is difficult and when the subjects care about being right

who conforms?

4 factors - personality, culture, gender, social roles

personality

• better predictor of behavior when social influences are weak

• internal factors rarely precisely predict a specific action, they better predict a person’s average behavior across many situations

culture

• collectivist countries are more responsive to others’ influence

• conformity may reflect an evolutionary response to survival threats

• working class people tend to prefer similarity to others, contrastingly, middle class people prefer to see themselves as unique individuals

gender

• Milgram found no evidence to support the original hypothesis that women were more susceptible to influence than men

• women were more likely to conform when they were in situations where people could observe the participant’s behaviors

• men conformed more to topics where women would typically know more, and vice versa

social roles

role expectations guide the conformity found in social relations

why do we ever want to be different?

reactance and asserting uniqueness

reactance

• motive to protect or restore one’s sense of freedom

• arises when someone threatens our freedom of action

• may also play a role in more antisocial behaviors

asserting uniqueness

• preference for being moderately unique

• people feel uncomfortable when they appear too different from others

• individuals who have the highest “need for uniqueness” tend to be the least responsive to majority influence

• rivalry is often most intense when the other group closely resembles your own

• we dont just want to be different than average, but better than average

is conformity good or bad?

it depends on the context!