Types of conformity and explanations

define social influence

The process by which a person's attitudes, beliefs or behaviours are modified by the presence or action of others.

Who proposed the 2 types of conformity and in what year?

Kelman in 1958

What are the 2 types of conformity?

• compliance

• internalisation

what is compliance?

• People often follow the group to gain approval or avoid rejection.

• When they see what most others think or do, they compare themselves and adjust their behaviour to fit in.

• Wanting to fit in motivates this type of conformity.

• It only changes what people say or do in public, not their true private beliefs.

what is internalisation?

• People may follow the group because they genuinely believe the group is right.

• They use the groups opinions as information for reality.

• Hearing others’ opinions makes them reflect on their own and check whether they might be mistaken.

• After thinking it through, they may decide the group’s answer makes more sense than their own.

• This is more likely if the group is trusted and has been right before.

• This leads to a real change in beliefs, both publicly and privately.

What is the differences between compliance and internalisation?

• Compliance:

  • A shallow form of conformity.

  • A person agrees with the group publicly.

  • They keep their true private beliefs unchanged.

• Internalisation:

  • A deep form of conformity.

  • A person genuinely accepts the group’s beliefs.

  • Their beliefs change both publicly and privately.

what are the 2 explanations for conformity?

• Normative social influence

• Informative social influence

what is normative social influence?

• People can go along with the majority without genuinely accepting their views.

• This is called compliance.

• Humans naturally seek social acceptance and fear rejection.

• This forms the basis of normative social influence—conforming to gain approval, avoid disapproval, or achieve social goals.

• Normative influence is most likely when individuals believe they are being watched or judged by the group.

• When this happens, people conform publicly, but their private beliefs stay the same and the change does not last over time (Nail, 1986).

• Example: On social media, users often adjust their beliefs or attitudes to match those of others.

• Example: Online comments can influence how readers interpret and evaluate news (Alknjr, 2023).

what is informative social influence?

• Informational influence happens when someone accepts others’ information as evidence about what is true.

• People not only want acceptance but also want to feel confident that their beliefs and perceptions are correct.

• At first, they may try to check facts for themselves, but if that isn’t possible, they rely on what others say.

• Informational influence is strongest when a situation is unclear or ambiguous.

• In these cases, people don’t just change their behaviour publicly—they also change their beliefs to match the group.

• Because both public and private attitudes change, this is a form of internalisation.

what are 3 evaluation points surrounding the reasoning for conformity?

• Distinguishing between compliance and internalisation - its assumed that  a person who publicity agrees with a majority yet disagrees with them in private is demonstrating compliance rather than internalisation. However, it is also possible that acceptance of the group's views has occurred in public dissipates later when in private.

• Normative influence may not be detected – it is possible that people don't actually recognise the behaviour of others as a casual factor in their own behaviour.

• Informational influence doesn't fully account for individual differences in conformity - not everyone conforms to the same extent in ambiguous situations.