1. Types of conformity

Three types of conformity

• compliance

• identification

• internalisation

Who suggested the different types of conformity

Kelman

Compliance

Most superficial type of conformity

The individual conforms publicly to fit in and achieve a favourable reaction from the other group members and gain certain rewards , or to avoid social disapproval/punishment but maintains their own private opinion

They revert to their former behaviour/attitudes when they leave the situations and their is no group pressure- they usually do not actually agree with the group

Usually results from normative social influence

E.g. listening to Taylor Swift with a group of Taylor Swift fans but not listening to her music when you are alone

Identification

• The individual adapts their behaviour and/or opinions/values because they value membership of a particular group

• Deeper level of conformity than compliance

• Individual maintains the behaviour and attitudes of the group even when they are away from the group- PUBLIC AND PRIVATE

• However this is still only a temporary change as they are likely to revert back to their old behaviour/attitudes when they leave the group

• E.g. In Zimbardo’s Stanford prison Experiment

• E.g. becoming vegan because all your flat mates are vegan but stopping once you move out

Internalisation

Deepest level of conformity, also known as ‘true conformity’

Individual accepts the influence of the group because because the ideas and actions are rewarding and are consistent with their own values

Represents a permanent change in the individual’s behaviour/attitudes and results from views of the group being internalised

The individual shows conformity to the group because they genuinely agree with their views

This leads to a permanent change in behaviour/attitudes both in public and private

Usually results from informational social influence

e.g. someone becoming a Christian after being friends with lots of Christians because they agree with their belief system, God and ethics and see the benefits in their own life

AO3- research evidence for compliance

P- Asch’s study of conformity provides evidence for compliance

E- participants were asked to give an answer aloud to an easy task, judging which out of three lines were the same length as the sample line. In each group there was 1 participant and 6-10 confederate who all gave the same wrong answer. there was a 32% general conformity rate across these critical trials

E- when Asch interviewed his participants post-procedure to try to determine why they had conformed to an obviously wrong answer, most said they had conformed to avoid rejection and they they were aware that they were given the wrong answer. This supports the view that they changed their answer temporarily in order to avoid the disapproval of the group, rather than their behaviour being a more permanent change.

L- Supports the view that NSU tends to lead to compliance, a short term change

AO3- research evidence for internalisation

P- Sherif’s study of conformity, using the auto kinetic effect, gives support for internalisation.

E-participants were asked to judge how far a spot of light had moved in a dark room (a task that had no right answer). When they answered individually answers between participants varied widely but when they were put into groups of 3 and asked to estimate as a group the answer converged towards a group norm. Even when the participants were separated and asked again for their own estimate most participants tended to maintain the group norm

E- this suggests that they were truly persuaded away from their original answer and had taken on the group view as their own, demonstrating a fairly permanent change which is characteristic of internalisation

L- this provides evidence for the role of ISI in internalisation

AO3- application

P- research into types of conformity has some practical applications

E- e.g. it alerts us to the fact that if the majority are attempting to establish a permanent change in behaviour, it is important that they truly persuade the minority away from their existing views/behaviours. Failure to do so may result in little more than a superficial, temporary change in behaviour.

E- e.g. those attempting to change the behaviour of heavy drinkers or smokers may achieve agreement in a group setting through compliance, but a permanent change in behaviour will only be achieved if the message is strong and persuasive enough to result in internalisation of the anti-drinking/smoking values

L- therefore understanding types of conformity can have real world benefits