Conformity

name 2 types of conformity

internalisation and compliance

what is internalisation

genuinely accepting group norms, results in private and public change of behaviour/opinions

what type of change does internalisation result in

usually permanent and persists in the absence of group members

what are the 2 explanations for conformity

ISI and NSI

what is ISI (informational social influence)

desire to be right

what is an example of ISI

not knowing an answer in class but going along with what everyone else thinks the answer is

what type of process is ISI

cognitive because people want to be right. leads to internalisation

what type of situations does ISI occur in

ambiguous so its not clear what is right

When may ISI happen

when decisions have to be made quickly and assume group is right

what is NSI

desire to be liked

NSI: what do norms regulate

behaviour of groups and individuals

what is NSI concern with

what is ‘normal’ behaviour for a social group, i.e norms

what type of process is NSI

emotional because people prefer social approval rather than rejection

what does NSI lead to

compliance

what type of situations is NSI likely to occur in

unfamiliar situations with unknown norms, people you know, or with strangers

in which type of situation is NSI most likely to be more pronounced

stressful situations where people need more social support

who proposed the 2 process theory

Deutsch and Gerard 1955

2 process theory: what did Deutsch and Gerard propose and do

brought ISI and NSI together and argued that people conform due to the desire to be liked and to be right

one strength of internalisation is that there is research support why is this?

Bokemper et al. 2021 told one group of participants during covid that other community members were wearing masks. Participants were more likely to wear masks correctly and express dissaproval towards those not wearing one.

What does Bokemper et als covid study show about conformity

some confromity involves acceptance of the norms of mask wearing and not just compliance

There is research support for ISI why is this?

Lucas et al’s (2006) participants conformed to incorrect answers when maths questions got harder. Harder problems=ambiguous situation so participants relied on answers they were given

What is a counterpoint for Lucas et al’s study for ISI

unclear is NSI or ISI operate in studies and in real life, dissenter may reduce power of NSI or ISI

One limitation for NSI is individual differences why is this?

McGhee and Teevan (1967) found that students who were nAffiliators were more likely to conform. shows that NSI underlies conformity for some people more than others

what are nAffiliators

strong need for affiliation (need to relate to other people)

What was the aim of Asch’s (1951) baseline procedure

devised a procedure to measure the extent that people conformed to the opinions of others, even when they were clearly wrong

ASCH’S BASELINE PROCEDURE: how many participants were in Asch’s study

123 American males

ASCH’S BASELINE PROCEDURE: how were the participants tested

individually, sitting last or next to last in a group of 6 to 8 confederates

ASCH’S BASELINE PROCEDURE: what were the participants shown

2 large cards, one card had a standard line and the other card had 3 comparison lines

ASCH’S BASELINE PROCEDURE: what did each group have to do with the cards/lines

state which comparison line matched the standard line

ASCH’S BASELINE PROCEDURE: how many trials where there

18 trials with different pairs of cards each time

ASCH’S BASELINE PROCEDURE: what happened on 12/18 critical trials

confederates all gave the same wrong answer

FINDINGS OF ASCH’S BASELINE STUDY: what did Asch find with naïve participants

conformed 36.8%, shows a high level of conformity in ambiguous situations

FINDINGS OF ASCH’S BASELINE STUDY: how many participants never gave a wrong answer

25%

FINDINGS OF ASCH’S BASELINE STUDY: how many participants conformed at least once

75%

FINDINGS OF ASCH’S BASELINE STUDY: what type of differences did Asch discover there was

individual differences

after the baseline procedure what did Asch investigate next

variables that lead to more or less conformity

what variables did Asch investigate (IN ORDER)

group size, unanimity, task difficulty

ASCH’S VARIABLE 1 GROUP SIZE: what procedure was conducted

in each group there were between 1-15 confederates in a group size between 2-16

ASCH’S VARIABLE 1 GROUP SIZE FINDINGS: what was the relationship between group size and level of conformity

group size and level of conformity = curvilinear

ASCH’S VARIABLE 1 GROUP SIZE FINDINGS: what happened if there were 2 confederates

conformity to wrong answer was 13.6%

ASCH’S VARIABLE 1 GROUP SIZE FINDINGS: what happened if there were 3 confederates

conformity rose to 31.8%

ASCH’S VARIABLE 1 GROUP SIZE FINDINGS: what happened if there were more than 3 confederates

conformity rate levelled off

WHAT WAS ASCH’S VARIABLE 1 GROUP SIZE EXPLANATION

people are very sensitive to others opinions because one confederate was enough to sway opinions

ASCH’S VARIABLE 2 UNANIMITY: What procedure did Asch conduct

introduced a dissenting confederate who sometimes gave correct answers and sometimes a different wrong answer

ASCH’S VARIABLE 2 UNANIMITY PROCEDURE: what did the dissenting confederate always disagree with

the majority

ASCH’S VARIABLE 2 UNANIMITY FINDINGS: what happened to conformity when dissenter was present

conformity reduced to less than ¼ of the level it was when majority was unanimous

ASCH’S VARIABLE 2 UNANIMITY FINDINGS: what happened to conformity when dissenter gave a right or wrong answer

conformity reduced

ASCH’S VARIABLE 2 UNANIMITY EXPLANATION: what did having a dissenter enable

enabled the naïve participant to behave independently

VARIABLE 3 ASCH’S TASK DIFFICULTY: what was Asch’s procedure for task difficulty

He made the line judging task harder by making standard line and comparison lines more similar in length so it was harder to see a difference

VARIABLE 3 ASCH’S TASK DIFFICULTY: What were Asch’s findings for task difficulty

conformity increased

VARIABLE 3 ASCH’S TASK DIFFICULTY EXPLANATION: what happened when the situation was more ambiguous

more likely to look for others for guidance and assume they are right

VARIABLE 3 ASCH’S TASK DIFFICULTY EXPLANATION: what plays a role when the task is harder

ISI

ONE limitation of Asch’s baseline procedure is that the situation and task was artificial why is this?

participants knew they were in a study, task was trivial and there was no reason not to conform, Fiske (2014) argued that Asch’s groups were not like real life groups, findings dont generalise to everyday life

What is SECOND limitation for Asch’s baseline procedure

his findings have limited application

Why does Asch’s baseline procedure findings have limited application

only American men were tested, Neto (1995) said that women might be more conformist, the US is a individualistic culture and studies in collectivist cultures have high conformity, so his findings tell us little about women and people from other cultures

what is an individualistic culture

value personal independence, autonomy, and individual goals over group harmony

what is a collectivist culture

society that puts the needs, goals, and well being of the group above personal desires

One strength of Asch’s baseline procedure is that there is evidence to support his findings why is this?

Wijenayake et al (2020) gave participants a quiz showed them fake results and then were offered to change their answers, results were similar to Asch’s, confirms Asch’s original findings

Which evaluation points can be used for both baseline procedure and variable investigation by Asch?

artificial situation/task, limited application, individual differences

How does Asch’s research raise ethical issues

participants were deceived so didnt give informed consent to take part and may have had a bad experience