Conformity

Behaviour of a person matching a certain group

Define conformity

wanting to be like the group, a public and private change in beliefs

what is identification

internalisation, identification, compliance

give the types of conformity

accepting a groups view both publicly and privately

what is internalisation

only changing public views to fit in with a group

what is compliance

the desire to be liked. it can lead to compliance

what is normative social influence

the desire to be right. it can lead to internalisation

what is informational social influence

asch: when question answers were written, conformity was down to 12.5%

give research to support nsi

it does not affect everyone in the same way. McGhee and Tevan found that students who have a high affiliation need are more likely to conform

give a weakness of nsi

pernin and Spencer found only 1 conforming engineer in 400 trials

differing research to isi

pts felt less confident when given a falsely difficult maths test, so were more likely to conform to others answers

research to support isi

they can work together. it is difficult to identify which one is at work

how has nsi and isi been questioned

line lengths (standard like and choice of 3 comparison lines). 123 American male undergraduates asked to identify the most similar lines with confederates giving wrong answers

give the procedure of Asch's research

naïve participants confirmed 36.8% of the time. 74% conformed at least once

what did asch find?

three confederates- 31.8% conformity . after 3, not much of a change in rate

Asch: group size variable findings

presence of a dissenter reduced conformity

asch: unanimity variable findings

conformity increased the harder the task, supports isi

asch: task difficulty variable

crutchfield found similar levels of conformity (30%) in his studies

positive of Asch's research

the scientific procedure increased validity

positive of Asch's research

it lacks temporal validity as conformity is subject to the time period

give a negative of Asch's research

limited real world applications

give a negative of Asch's research

21 volunteers placed in a mock prison with randomly allocated roles. pts performed In a way they thought their social role would fill eg prisoners asking for parole

describe zimbardo's research

found that pts identified with their roles more as the experiment went on

what did zimbardo find

the behaviour expected of someone dependent on their social group

what are social roles

real world application and a high internal validity

give positives of zimbardo's research

there was a lack of realism, and findings have not been replicated eg reicher and haslam

give negatives of zimbardo's research