Explanations for conformity Flashcards
What is NSI?
Normative social influence is where a person conforms to fit in with the group because they don’t want to appear foolish or be left out
With what NSI is related?
Normative social influence is usually associated with compliance, where a person changes their public behavior but not their private beliefs
What is an example of NSI?
A person may feel pressurised to smoke because the rest of their friends are. Normative Social influence tends to lead to compliance because the person smokes just for show but deep down they wish not to smoke. This means any change of behavior is temporary
What is ISI?
Informational social influence is where a person conforms because they have a desire to be right, and look to others who they believe may have more information.
With what is related ISI?
This type of conformity occurs when a person is unsure of a situation or lacks knowledge and is associated with internalisation.
What is an example of ISI?
This occurs if someone was to go to a posh restaurant for the first time, they may be confronted with several forks and not know which one to use, so they might look to a near by person to see what fork to use first. For a study on informational influence refer to Jenness
What is Jenness’ Jar experiment?
Jenness carried out a study into conformity – in his experiment participants were asked to estimate how many beans they thought was 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).
The study was successful in showing majority influence, thus proving that individuals’ behavior and beliefs can be influenced by a group. Additionally this is likely to be an example of informational social influence as participants would be uncertain about the actual number of beans in the jar.
