conformity

define social influence

• our thoughts feelings and behaviours are influenced by other people and the social environment

  • various forms

    • conformity

    • compliance

    • obedience

define conformity

the tendency to change what we think or say in response to the influence of real or imagined pressure from a majority group.

define normative social influence

The influence of others that leads us to conform in order to be liked or accepted by them, this results in compliance because we change our behaviour in order to be accepted, but privately we do not. in a majority it becomes difficult to deviate from that view point and this may lead to feelings of discomfort or isolation.

what is some evidence for NSI

Asch’s 1951 study:

• some of the participants conformed because they felt self-conscious giving the right answer in the fear of disapproval

• when everyone had to write down their answers conformity rate fell to 12.5%, as giving answers privately meant that there was no normative pressure

• this study proves that some conformity is due to a desire to not be rejected by a group

define informational social influence

we look to people who we believe have more information than us and conform to their opinions or behaviors as a way to gain accurate information or understanding, especially in ambiguous situations, with the desire to be right

what is some evidence of ISI

Todd Lucas at al study:

• found that participants conformed more to incorrect answers when the maths problems were more difficult because the situation was more ambiguous, and so they relied on others answers

  Jenness study of 1932:

• when people were guessing how many beans were in the jar, the estimates tended to converge with the group

can NSI and ISI occur together?

yes

they often occur together because the person may want to be right as well as accepted by others

name the types of conformity

compliance, identification, internalisation

define compliance

• going along with things even if you don’t agree

• do things to appear “normal” and have a favourable reaction from others

• going against the majority may lead to exclusion (NSI)

• change your public belief but not private

• short lasting - only when the group is present

define identification

• conform to what’s expected of you in order to fit in

• adopt a group’s behaviour in order to feel more “part of the group”

• elements of compliance and internalisation because they accept group norms but only do so in order to fit in

• conforming publicly but not always privately

define internalisation

• accepting the majorities view

• follow along with the group because the content of the attitudes is similar to your own beliefs and values

• you have internalised the majority groups beliefs so they are now your own

• do this to be correct and so look to the majority group to know how to behave (ISI)

• changes your public and private views

• long lasting

what was the baseline procedure for Asch’s procedure?

• 123 male college students were selected on a voluntary basis

• tested in groups of 6-8

• only one person per group was a naïve participant, and they were always seated second to last

• other participants were confederates of Asch

• each group were shown a line perception test, and each participant had to state which line matched the standard line

what were the baseline findings for Asch’s study

• confederates were instructed to say the wrong answer 12/18 times

• naïve participants conformed 36.8% of the time even though they knew it was the wrong answer (= rate of conformity)

• 25% never conformed

• 75% conformed at least once in the 12 trials

• conformity is a powerful influence

what were the 3 variations of Asch’s study

• when group size increased, conformity rate increased

  • more confederates agreeing with the wrong answer makes the naïve participant feel vulnerable giving another answer

  • conform to avoid embarrassment

  • after the group size reached 9 people, the conformity rate slightly decreases because the genuine participant will start to realise there’s no way that more than 9 people can all be wrong - this is a curvilinear relationship between group size and conformity rate

• if there’s unanimity, conformity rate increases

• if there’s a dissenter (non-confederate participant), conformity rate decreases

  • when there’s another participant giving a different answer, the naïve participant feels they’ve been granted more freedom of choice, so that they can pick the right answer

• when Asch increased difficulty, the rate of conformity increased

  • when a question is harder, the situation is more ambiguous and we start to rely on others opinions to be right (ISI)

discuss the ecological validity of Asch’s work (is it valid in the real world)

• low ecological validity

• artificial experiment

• can’t be compared to how we experience conformity in our lives

discuss the population validity of Asch’s work (can we relate it to other people)

• lacks population validity

• used only men

• can’t determine if women conform the same way

• same can be said in regards to different age groups

discuss the cultural specificity of Asch’s work (does his research refer to all humans)

• research based on college students in the 1950’s

• very specific social group was investigated

• can’t necessarily be applied to other people

discuss the temporal validity of Asch’s work (is it a product of its time - is it to do with the fact it was in America in the 50’s)

• the 1950’s was a much more conformist time, making it more natural to conform to certain ideas creating social norms

• now, it is more encouraged for us to have individual opinions - we now live in a less conformist society

discuss the experimental control of Asch’s experiment (how well was it controlled)

• well controlled in a lab setting

• any extraneous variables were controlled

• any changes in the experiment would’ve derived from the independent variable, and it would’ve changed the dependant variable