TOPIC 1 : Social Influence 👯‍♀️

Paper 1 topic

What is conformity?

it is a chnage in behaviour due to real or imagined pressure in a majority group

What are the 2 types of conformity and who created them?

• KLEMAN created the 2 types of conformity.

• compliance

• Internalisation

What does the term compliance mean?

It is a public agreement but a private disagreement and it is only temporary and happens when there is pressure to fit in with majority

What does the term internilisation mean?

a public agreement and a private agreement this is permanent as they think majority is right.

What did Deutch and Gerald do and make up in their study?

• They created the explanation of conformity

• Compliance: Normalative social influence- desire to fit in

• Internalisation : informational social influence - desire to be right

What is an example of compliance?

Smoking or vaping you would vape with your friends to fit in because everyone around you is doing even though when you were In private you would never do it because you know it is wrong and feel pressured to do it.

What is an example of internalisation?

Your friends being vegan and they explain why they are vegan and what happens to animals. Then you start eating vegan food by yourself everyday as well as eating vegan food in public because they think they are right which is why they would publicly and privately eat vegan food.

Who did the original study in 1951 of conformity?

Solemn Asch

How many students took part in Asch’s conformity study

It was 123 males

What is the term used for the real participant and the actors

• Naive participants

• confederates

What were the limitations of the study?

• Original study

• Group size : as the group of confederates increased Asch noticed that the naive participants conformed due to normalative social influence even though the participant clearly knew the answer they were saying was wrong there was much higher pressure to conform and he realised when there were 5 confederates conformity rates limited and found it made no difference.

• Unanimity : as one confederate said the correct answer the pressure to conform with the rest of the group reduced the pressure and the naive participant felt they were able to share their own answer and did not conform to the rest of the group.

• Task difficulty : as the lines were closer to the size to X the naïve participant felt pressure to conform through informational social influence as they genuinely believed that the confederates were right.

Which of the following are identified as limitations of Asch’s research?

• Temporal validity issues : study might not apply well to today’s world people might act differently to conformity now

• Response bias : may have acted differently because they knew they were being studied rather than showing how they would behave in a natural situation

Describe one key strength of Asch’s conformity study

Asch used a standardised procedure for replication. However he also used the study effectively to demonstrate the relationship between conformity and group dynamics

Which of the following was identified as a limitation of the study?

Ethical issues including informed consent and withdrawal difficulties and also caused psychological damage./