Types of conformity: internalisation, identification and compliance. Explanations for conformity: informational social influence and normative social influence, and variables affecting conformity including group size, unanimity and task difficulty as investigated by Asch.

What is Conformity?

• Changing behaviour or beliefs to match a group.

What is Compliance?

• Publicly changing behaviour to fit in with group while privately disagreeing.
• Superficial and temporary form of conformity.
• Weakest form of conformity.

Why does Compliance happen?

• Linked to normative social influence (NSI).
• Person wants social approval and to avoid rejection.

What is Identification?

• Publicly and privately changing behaviour to be accepted by group or social role.
• Temporary form of conformity because behaviour only lasts while connected to group.

Why does Identification happen?

• Person values membership of group and wants relationship with group.

What is Internalisation?

• Publicly and privately changing behaviour because individual genuinely accepts group beliefs as correct.
• Deepest and strongest form of conformity.
• Permanent long-term change.

Why does Internalisation happen?

• Linked to informational social influence (ISI).
• Person believes others are correct and have better information.

What is Normative Social Influence (NSI)?

• Conforming to gain social approval or avoid social rejection.

Why does NSI happen?

• Humans have a need for affiliation and desire to be accepted by others.

What type of conformity is NSI mainly linked to?

• Compliance.

What is Informational Social Influence (ISI)?

• Conforming because individual wants to be correct and believes others have accurate information.

When is ISI strongest?

• Ambiguous situations where answer unclear.
• Crisis situations needing immediate guidance.

What type of conformity is ISI mainly linked to?

• Internalisation.

What was the Aim of Asch’s Study?

• Investigated whether individuals conform to majority influence.

Asch Study — Procedure

• 123 American male students tested with confederates.
• Participants shown one standard line and three comparison lines.
• Confederates deliberately gave wrong answers on 12 out of 18 trials.
• Participant answered aloud.

Asch Study — Findings

• Average conformity rate was 37%.
• 75% conformed at least once.
• 25% never conformed.

Asch Study — Conclusion

• People conform to majority influence even when correct answer obvious.

How did Increasing Group Size affect Conformity in Asch’s Study?

• Conformity increased as group size increased up to 3 confederates.
• Little increase after this because conformity plateaus.

Why did Increasing Group Size affect Conformity in Asch’s Study?

• Larger groups create more social pressure.
• Small groups easier to resist.

What does Unanimity mean?

• Everyone in group agrees.

How did Unanimity affect Conformity in Asch’s Study?

• Presence of dissenter reduced conformity to 5.5%.
• Dissenter breaks power of majority and increases confidence.

Why did Unanimity affect Conformity in Asch’s Study?

• Dissenter provides social support.
• Participant feels less pressure to conform.

How did Task Difficulty affect Conformity in Asch’s Study?

• Harder tasks increased conformity because participants became uncertain.

Why did Task Difficulty increase Conformity in Asch’s Study?

• Participants relied on others for guidance in difficult situations.
• Linked to informational social influence (ISI).

Lucas et al. — Aim

• Investigated role of informational social influence in conformity.

Lucas et al. — Procedure

• Students answered easy and difficult maths questions.

Lucas et al. — Findings

• Conformity increased for difficult questions.
• Supports informational social influence.

Evaluation of Normative Social Influence (NSI) — Research Support

• Asch found participants conformed publicly despite obvious answer.
• Supports desire for social approval.

Evaluation of Informational Social Influence (ISI) — Research Support

• Lucas et al. found conformity increased when tasks became difficult.
• Supports uncertainty increasing conformity.

Evaluation of NSI — Individual Differences

• People with greater need for affiliation more likely to conform.
• NSI does not affect everyone equally.

Evaluation of ISI — Real Life Application

• ISI important in crisis situations where people look to others for guidance.

Evaluation of Asch’s Study — Temporal Validity

• Perrin and Spencer repeated Asch study and found lower conformity rates.
• Suggests conformity may differ across time and cultures.

Evaluation of Asch’s Study — Artificial Task

• Line judgement task unrealistic and lacks mundane realism.

Evaluation of Asch’s Study — Limited Sample

• Only American men tested so findings difficult to generalise.

Evaluation of Asch’s Study — Research Support for Variables

• Asch consistently demonstrated effects of group size, unanimity and task difficulty on conformity.