16 marker - Conformity + Asch's study 

'“ Polly always checks what her friends are going to wear before she gets ready to go out because she does not like to be the odd one out. Jed watches his colleagues carefully when he starts a new job so that he can work out where to put his things and how long to take for lunch.”

Discuss two explanations for conformity. Refer to Polly and Jed in your discussion. (16 marks)

Normative social influence is when a person agrees with a group because they want to be accepted by the group and avoid disapproval from them. This explanation of conformity is likely to lead to compliance. Compliance is a superficial and temporary type of conformity whereby we agree with group when with them, but completely revert to out own opinions and disagree with them when we aren’t with the group. Polly is an example of NSI because she does not want to stand out from the group but instead be the same as the group and fit in with them. This is seen in the tex where it says, “she does not like to be the odd one out.” NSI occurs when a person values this group and so wants to be a part of it. NSI is also supported by Asch’s study on conformity. After the study, Asch’s participants were interviews and they had stated that they did not agree with the answers they conformed with but instead conformed because they have a desire to fit in. However, McGee’s study in nAffiliators criticises this as McGee’s research had shown that people who were less concerned about being liked where less affected by NSI.

Informational social influence explains conformity as agreeing with a group because the individual believes that the group is correct. The individual may perceive the group as having superior information to them and so will agree with the group because they have the desire to be correct. This explanation is likely to lead to internalisation. Internalisation is a deep type of conformity where by we take in the views of the majority as we accept it as correct and we continue to hold these views when we are not with the group. Jed is an example of ISI because he is trying to figure out the correct places and timings. This is seen in the text where it says, “Jed watches his colleagues carefully… so that he ca your out where to put his things and how long to take for lunch.” This shows that Jed had confirmed out of the desire to be correct. Jed had also conformed because he had perceived his colleagues as having greater information than him and so conformed because he assumed that they were correct. Lucas et al had given students mathematical questions to answer. There was a higher level of conformity to incorrect answers when the questions were more difficult, especially if the study had considered themselves to be lacking mathematical knowledge. This is a strength for ISI because it shows that people conform in situations where they feel they lack knowledge. Behaviour, however, can be both ISI and NSI as in most cases for behaviour, both are involved.