Types of conformity and explanations for conformity Flashcards
What is conformity?
Form of social influence: a change in a person’s behaviour or opinion as a
result of a real or imagined pressure from a person or group of people
What are the 3 types of conformity?
Compliance, internalisation and identification.
What is compliance?
Individual accepts influence to achieve favourable reaction from those around them. Attitude/behaviour accepted NOT due to its content, but for the approval associated with its adoption.
What is internalisation?
Individual accepts influence because they agree with the content of the behaviour/attitude. Examine their own beliefs and group’s belief to conclude that group is right. More likely if group is trusted.
What is identification?
Individual accepts influence to be associated with a person or group. Has elements of both compliance and internalisation. Want to feel more apart of a group.
What are the explanations for conformity?
Normative social influence and informational social influence.
State what normative social influence is.
Conforming to the majority to gain approval but not accept their point of view.
Explain normative social influence.
Humans = social species. Fundamental need for social companionship & fear of rejection. When an individual believes they are under surveillance from a group, they may conform to the majority in public, but their private view will not change.
State what informational social influence is.
Accepting evidence from others as evidence of reality.
Explain informational social influence.
Humans have need to be confident their views are correct. In ambiguous situation with reliance on others opinions (more likely if deemed an expert): may accept group position as reality. Views change publicly and privately.
(AO3) What is the issue with compliance and internalisation?
Difficult to distinguish between them. Person accepts view in public, later expresses they do not agree publicly - compliance. However, may have agreed also privately when in the situation, but the view dissipated over time. May be due to forgetting info, or receiving/remembering new info. Suggests more complex.
(AO3) What research support is there for normative influence?
Adolescents in the US less likely to take up smoking when exposed to the message that the majority of their peers didn’t smoke. Not informative because view on smoking doesn’t change - simply who does it. Shows how understanding SI can positively benefit the world.
Or use Asch’s line study.
(AO3) Why may normative influence be difficult to detect?
People may not recognise the impact that the behaviour of others has on their own behaviour. For example, people believe neighbours’ behaviour has the least impact on their energy consumption - the opposite is true. Shows impact of normative influence and the power it holds (especially subconsciously).
(AO3) What is informational influence dependent on?
Type of task. Social tasks prompt more conformity than more objective, physical tasks. Task then becomes an extraneous variable - informational influence more complex.
