Conformity

What are the three types of conformity

• Compliance

• Identification

• Internalisation

Define conformity

Conformity is a phenomenon which involves someone changing, adapting or taking on new behaviours in order to fit in with the group

Define compliance

• agreeing with or behaving like the group publicly but disagreeing having different opinions to the group privately

• Compliance is the weakest type of conformity as it only involves surface and superficial change and it ceases when someone is not with the group

Define identification

• temporarily adopting the habits or attitudes and behaviours of a group if they value the group and wish to be included in it

• results in short-term change as the individual is still not completely in agreement with the group (if only in private)

Define Internalisation

• accepting and agreeing with the group publicly and privately

• Internalisation is the strongest type of conformity, leading to long-term change

Outline Normative social Influence (NSI)

• NSI occurs when an individual is keen to adopt the social norms of a specific group

• Someone is more likely to be affected by NSI if they feel that their behaviour and attitudes do not align with those of the group

• NSI may involve an individual going against their inner beliefs, ideals or opinions in order not to be rejected by the group

• NSI as an explanation of conformity is linked to compliance and identification

What are the explanations for conformity

• NSI

• ISI

Outline informative social influence

• tends to take place when the individual is unsure and/or lacks knowledge about what to do or how to behave in a specific situation

• ISI occurs when the individual looks to the group for guidance

• ISI can occur when there is a crisis and a decision needs to be made quickly or when they are insecure about what is deemed 'right/wrong'

• ISI as an explanation of conformity is linked to internalisation

What are the strengths of NSI

• Asch's 1951 experiment supports it as an explanation for conformity

• When Asch interviewed some of his P's, some said they conformed because they felt self-conscious about giving the right answer

• When P's wrote their answers down, conformity fell to 12.5%

  • this is because, in private, there is no normative group pressure

• This shows that some conformity is due to a desire not to be rejected by the group for disagreeing with them

What are the strengths of ISI

• There is research support by Lucas et al. (2006)

• Found that Ps conformed more often to incorrect answers when the maths problem was more difficult due to the situation becoming more ambiguous for them and the Ps didn't want to be wrong

• Shows that ISI is a valid explanation for conformity as the results are what ISI would predict

What is an nAffiliator

Individuals that have a great concern for being liked by others and have a strong need for 'affiliation' (relating to other people)

What are the limitations for NSI and ISI

• NSI doesn't predict conformity in every case as some people are nAffiliators

  • MgHee and Teevan (1967) found that students who were nAffiliators were more likely to conform

  • Suggests there are individual differences in conformity that can't be fully explained by one general theory of situational pressures

• Neither explanation for conformity explains why some people resist both NSI and ISI (rebels and iconoclasts) - Links to above

• It is rare for both NSI and ISI to be tested in real conditions

  • mostly tested in labs which lack mundane realism and therefore ecological validity

What were the aims of Asch's 1951 study?

• Wanted to investigate majority influence on conformity

• Asch was interested in seeing the extent to which group pressure could influence an individual to go against what their eyes were telling them

Outline the sample of Asch's study

• 123 male students from the USA made up the sample of naive participants

• Each participant sat at a table with 6-8 other male students who were confederates of Asch

Outline the procedure of Asch's study

• 18 trials per group, confederates gave correct answers during the first few trials

• There were 12 critical trials, in which the confederates gave incorrect answers

What were the results and conclusions of Asch's 1951 study

Results

• Participants gave wrong answers on 36.8% of the critical trials

• 75% conformed at least once

Conclusions

• people will conform to the majority even when the situation is unambiguous

• people conformed to both NSI and ISI

• conformity is common but not inevitable (25%) didn't conform

What are the strengths of Asch's 1951 study

Standardised procedure

• Asch used a standardised procedure (e.g same group number, same questions asked)

  • A standardised procedure means that the study can be replicated many times over, which will show consistent results (high reliability)

• Cause and effect could easily be established

Research support

• Support from other studies about task difficulty

• Todd Lucas et al 2006

  • Ps given 'easy and hard maths qs to solve and given answers from three other students (not real)

  • Ps conformed more often (agreed with the wrong answer) more often when the task was harder

• This shows Asch was correct in claiming TD was a variable that affected conformity

What are the limitations of Asch's study

• Asch’s research took place in the 1940s/50s, when conformity was arguably higher, directly after World War II and pre-civil rights and the feminist movement

  • study lacks temporal validity

• The task and the situation were artificial, and lack internal validity

  • Participants may have responded to demand characteristics

What were the three variables that Asch tested

• Task difficulty

• Unanimity

• Group size

Outline Asch's study when testing Group size as a variable

• aim

• results

• conclusion

• How does conformity change depending on the condition

• 1 confederate: conformity = 12.8%

• 3 confederates: conformity = 31.8%

The above finding is the same percentage as in Asch’s original experiment, in which there were six to eight confederates

• Thus, conformity peaks with three confederates, once majority pressure is established

outline Asch's study when testing Unanimity as a variable

• Unanimity refers to the extent of agreement/consensus across a group

• To test the effect of unanimity Asch asked one of the confederates to give the correct answer throughout, resulting in conformity dropping to 5%

  This finding shows that support from another person makes it easier to resist the pressure to conform to the majority

Outline Asch's study when investigating Task Difficulty as a variable

• In Asch’s original experiment, the correct answer was obvious i.e. it was an unambiguous task

• The task was made more difficult by minimising the difference between the length of the line (making the task more ambiguous

• Asch found the rate of conformity when faced with the ambiguous task increased

Thus, when a task is difficult (ambiguous) and people conform to the incorrect answer, it can be explained by ISI

When a task is easy (unambiguous) and people conform to the incorrect answer, it can be explained by NSI

Why did Zimbardo conduct the SPE

1973

He wanted to know why prison guards behaved brutally, in response to prison riots in America

• did they have sadistic personalities or was it their social role that made them behave that way

Outline how the P's of the SPE were selected

• 21 student volunteers who responded to a newspaper advert, they were deemed 'emotionally stable'

• The P's were randomly assigned to their roles of prisoner and guard

How were the P's encouraged to conform in the 1973 SPE

Uniform

• Prisoners were given a loose smock and a cap to cover their hair. They were identified by number only

• Guards had their own uniforms: wooden club, handcuffs and mirrored sunglasses to reflect their status

• The uniforms created a loss of personal identity (de-individualisation) meaning they were more likely to conform to their social role

Instructions about behaviour

• Rather than being able to leave the study early, prisoners were encouraged to 'apply for parole'

• Guards were reminded they had complete power over the prisoners

Outline the key events in the 1973 SPE

• Guards began to settle into their roles enthusiastically, and within hours of the study beginning, some began to treat prisoners harshly

• After two days prisoners rebelled by ripping their uniforms and swearing at the guards and the guards employed an array of tactics as a result

• The prisoners soon also began to adopt to prison like behaviour

• As the prisoners became more submissive, the guards became more aggressive and abusive

• Zimbardo ended the experiment after six days instead of the 14 originally planned

Outline some of the tactics some of the guards used to put the prisoners in line in the SPE

• they used psychological warfare, harnessing the 'divide-and-rule' principle by playing prisoners off against each other

• they instigated headcounts, sometimes at night, by blowing a whistle loudly at the prisoners

• punishments were meted out for the slightest transgression

What prison like behaviour did the prisoners soon adopt in the SPE

• they became quiet, depressed, obedient and subdued

• some of them became informants, 'snitching' to the guards about other prisoners

• they referred to themselves by number rather than by name

What conclusions could be drawn from the SPE

• Social roles appear to have a strong influence on individuals' behaviour

• the guards became brutal and the prisoners became submissive

What are the Strengths of the SPE

Control

• Zimbardo and colleagues had control over variables

• Emotionally stable Ps were chosen and randomly assigned to the roles of guard and prisoner, this was one way researchers ruled out individual personality differences as an explanation for the findings

• This increased the internal validity of the study, so more confident conclusions can be drawn about influence of roles on conformity

Counterpoint to lack of realism

• Mark Mcdermott (2009) argued Ps did behave as if the prison was real to them

• 90% of conversations were about prison life

• This suggests that the SPE did replicate the social roles of prisoners and guards - high internal validity

What were the limitations of the SPE

Lack of realism

• Did not have the realism of a true prison, Banuazizi and Movahedi (1975) argued that Ps were merely play acting and based on stereotypes on how prisoners and guards are supposed to behave

• One guard claimed he had based his role on a brutal character from the film Cool Hand Luke

  • would explain why the prisoners rioted, as that's what they were doing in real life

• Suggests findings tell us little about conformity to social roles in actual prisons

Exaggerates the power of roles

• Zimabrdo may have exaggerated the power of social roles to influence behaviour

• Only 1/3 of the guards behaved brutally etc

• Suggests Zimbardo overstated his view SPE Ps were conforming to social roles and minimised the influence of dispositional factors

What were the statistics of the guards behaviour towards prisoners in the 1973 SPE

• 1/3 of the guards behaved brutally

• 1/3 tried to apply the rules fairly

• The remaining guards actively supported the prisoners by sympathising with them, e.g by given them cigarettes