Social influence

Conformity

A change in a person’s behaviour or opinion as a result of real or imagined pressure from a person or group of people

Real pressure

When there are consequences for not conforming

Imagined pressure

When there are no consequences for not conforming

Kelman’s 3 types of conformity

• Internalisation

• Identification

• Compliance

Internalisation

• Permanently making the beliefs, values, attitude, and behaviour of a the group your own

• Strongest type of conformity

Identification

Temporary/short term change of behaviour and beliefs only in the presence of the group

Compliance

• Temporarily following the ideas of/going along with the group to gain or avoid disapproval

• Publicly agreeing but privately disagreeing

• Weakest level of conformity

Types of social influence

• Informational social influence

• Normative social influence

Informational social influence (ISI)

• Conforming due to the desire to be right and the belief that the group is right

• Usually leads to internalisation

• Occurs in situations where we do not have the knowledge or expertise to make our own decisions

Fein et al.

Asked participants to vote for a US presidential candidate after they saw others voting for somebody else. Most of the participants changed their mind

Normative social influence (NSI)

• Conforming due to the desire to be liked and be a part of the group

• Often occurs when a person wants to avoid the embarrassing situation of disagreeing with the majority

Garandeau and Cillissen

Found that a boy could be manipulated by a bully into victimising another child because the bully provides a common goal for the boy’s group of friends; to victimise the other child. The boy is likely to victimise the child to acoid disapproval from his friends

Lucas et al.

Found that conformity to an obviously incorrect maths answer was greater when the question was more difficult and the participant rated their own maths ability unfavourably.

Shows that individuals are more likely to turn to other when they lack the information to make their own informed decisions