Conformity Flashcards
What is conformity?
When a person changes their attitudes or behaviour due to implied pressure from another group or individual.
Usually occurs among people with equal status.
How many types of conformity and what are they?
Three:
Compliance
Identification
Internalisation
What is compliance?
When a person shows a short term change in their public behaviour, but their private attitudes remain the same.
Compliance occurs easily to temporarily fit in or avoid conflict with the majority group.
Only lasts whilst the person is in presence of majority group.
Supporting evidence of compliance?
Asch(1951)
What is identification?
When a person shows a lasting change in their public and private attitudes or behaviour in order to show group membership.
Occurs moderately easily to show a sense of belonging to the majority group.
Only lasts whilst the person identifies with a particular group.
Evidence of identification?
Zimbardo(1973)
What is internalisation?
When a person shows a permanent change in their public and private attitudes or behaviour because they agree with the majority group.
Doesn’t occur easily because it involves meaningful personal change.
Lasts indefinitely because the person actually agrees with the majority group.
Evidence of internalisation?
Jenness (1932)
What are the 2 explanations for conformity?
Normative Social Influence (NSI)
Informational Social Influence (ISI)
What is NSI?
When we conform to be liked or accepted
People change their public behaviour because they worry about rejection or social exclusion from the majority group.
NSI may lead to compliance as it usually results in a short term change that only remains when majority group is present.
Evidence of NSI
Asch (1955)
Participants conformed to majority group in their public estimation of the length of a line 36.8% of critical trials because they feared rejection if they gave a different answer.
What is ISI?
When we conform due to a lack of information, we want to be right and believe other people hold the correct answer.
People change their public and private attitudes and behaviour because they are uncertain how to behave in a situation and assume the majority group must know better.
Often shown in ambiguous situations where there is no obvious answer.
Closely linked to internalisation as it usually results in a long term change that remains even if the majority group isn’t present.
Evidence for ISI?
Jenness (1932)
Participants conformed to the majority group in their estimation of the number of beans in a jar because there was no obvious answer and they assumed the group knew better.
