A level Psychology Theme 1

3 types of conformity

internalisation - informational social influence

identification

compliance - normative social influence

internalisation + evidence

where the behaviour or belief system of the majority is accepted by the individual and becomes part of his or her own belief system. It is the most permanent form of conformity

Jenness’ bean jar experiment

Jenness’ bean jar experiment - proof for internalisation

Jenness carried out a study into conformity – in his experiment participants were asked to estimate how many beans they thought were in a jar. Each participant had to make an individual estimate, and then do the same as a group. He found that when the task was carried out in a social group, the participants would report estimates of roughly the same value (even though they had previously reported quite different estimates as individuals)

identification + evidence

where we sometimes conform to the opinions behaviours of an individual or a group because there is something we admire and want to be like.  We identify with the group, so we want to be part of it

Zimbardo’s prison experiment

Zimbardo’s prison experiment - proof for identification

Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment involved college students randomly assigned to act as either guards or prisoners in a simulated prison environment. Participants quickly internalized the roles of guards and prisoners, adopting behaviors that aligned with these identities

compliance + evidence

where the individual changes their own behaviour and go along with the majority to fit in with the group. They may not necessarily agree with the behaviour/belief but they go along with it anyway.

Asch’s Line Study

Asch’s line study - proof of compliance

Participants were placed in a group with confederates (who answered incorrectly) and asked to compare the length of a line to three others, selecting the matching one in a simple, obvious task. Many participants admitted afterward that they didn’t believe the group’s answers, indicating their conformity was superficial and motivated by external pressure, not internal belief.

2 strengths of the two process explanation for conformity

There is research support for normative social influence: Schlutz et al (2008) found that hotel guests exposed to the normative message that ‘75% of guests re-used their towels each day’ reduced their own towel use by 25%

There is research support for informational social influence: Lucas et al (2006) asked students to give answers to mathematical questions that were easy or difficult. There was greater conformity to incorrect answers when they were difficult compared to when they were easy

procedure for asch’s experiment

123 american men were in groups with 5-7 confederates. They were tested on the comparison of lines and were made to say their answer of the matching line aloud. The confederates gave the wrong answer on some trials.

findings of Asch’s baseline experiment

naive participants conformed about 37% of the time

25% of the participants never conformed

3 variables investigated by Asch

group size, unanimity, task difficulty

findings for Asch’s experiment: group size

He varied the number of confederates from 1-15

He found a curvilinear relationship between group size and conformity rate

Conformity increased with group size but only up to a point

With 3 confederates, conformity to the wrong answer rose to 32%

The presence of more confederates made little difference

This suggests that mos