Explanations for conformity

conformity can be explained as stemming from two different motivations:

• Normative social influence (NSI)

• Informational social influence (ISI)

Normative Social Influence (NSI)

• The need to be liked/accepted by the group (the fear of rejection)

• NSI may involve an individual going against their inner belief, ideals or opinions in order not to be rejected by the group, e.g.

  • Agreeing with the group that a new film is rubbish while secretly having enjoyed it

  • Ignoring a school friend because that is what everyone else in the group is doing, but privately believing that his behaviour is cruel and wrong

• NSI, as an explanation of conformity, can lead to compliance.

  • The essence of NSI is emotional, as it is based on the need to be liked and accepted

When does NSI occur?

• NSI occurs when an individual is keen to adopt the social norms of a specific group, e.g.,

  • Going to church every week because that is what the group do

  • Wearing black all the time because that is what the group do

  • Professing to dislike a particular person because that is what the group do

When is someone more likely to be affected by NSI?

• Someone is more likely to be affected by NSI if they feel that their behaviour and attitudes do not align with those of the group, e.g.

  • ‘I stopped going to church years ago, but the group goes every week’

• This lack of cohesion with the group may cause anxiety, which in turn may lead to an adjustment in behaviour, e.g.

  • ‘I’m going to start attending church with the group so that they feel that I am one of them’

Informational social influence (ISI)

the need to know what to do (fear of social disapproval/humiliation)

Tends to take place when the individual is unsure and/or lacks knowledge about what to do or how to behave in specific situations, e.g.

• On someone’s first days at work, they will look to others for cues as to how to behave in the office, where to go at lunchtime, the appropriate dress code, etc.

• In a new university class, the professor sets a difficult equation to solve

  • Someone unsure of the answer may listen to what others are saying and agree with their answer (even if the answer turns out to be incorrect)

• ISI is an explanation of conformity and can lead to internalisation

• The essence of ISI is cognitive, as it is based on information processing

When does ISI occur?

• ISI occurs when the individual looks to the group for guidance

• It can occur when there is a crisis and a decision needs to be made quickly

  • The assumption that follows is that the group knows what to do

  • if everyone in the group assumes that everyone else knows what to do, then this can result in faulty decision-making, which could be disastrous (e.g., mistakes in piloting a passenger plane or large-scale financial lending)

When is someone most likely to be affected by ISI?

Someone is more likely to be affected by ISI if they are insecure about what is deemed ‘right/wrong’ behaviour, e.g.,

• Someone collapses in the street, but no one stops to help them, so the individual assumes that the situation is not serious thus, no help is given

Evaluation of explanations for conformity → +Research support for ISI

• Jenness (1932) asked pps to estimate the number of beans contained in a jar

• Pps then discussed their estimates in groups, and then pp made a second independent estimate

• The findings showed that the second estimate moved closer to the group estimate, indicating ISI thus, the theory has validity

Evaluation of explanations for conformity → +NSI has good application to real behaviour in real settings (high ecological validity)

• Schultz et al (2008) conducted a series of field experiments to test NSI

• Guests were exposed to signs providing descriptive normative information (e.g. that most other guests reuse their towels)

• The findings showed that guests who received normative messages were significantly more likely to reuse towels than those in control conditions (no sign)

• This demonstrates that NSI can influence real behaviour in everyday settings

Evaluation of explanations for conformity → -Neither explanation for conformity explains why some people resist both NSI and ISI

e.g., freedom fighters, rebels, iconoclasts (someone who challenges set, long-held traditions and beliefs and who may be anti-establishment. This sort of person is unlikely to follow the herd or to conform.

• The above observation means that both explanations for conformity cannot be generalised to everyone

  • To this extent, they cannot account for individual differences.

Evaluation of explanations for conformity → -It is rare for both NSI and ISI to be tested in real conditions

• Most research in this field is lab-based

• Lab-based research is low in mundane realism, which reduces the scope of its external validity