Social Influence- Conformity: Types And Explanations Flashcards
What are the types of conformity?
Internalisation
Identification
Compliance
Definition of internalisation
A deep type of conformity where we take on the majority view because we accept it as correct.
It leads to a far-reaching and permanent change in behaviour, even when the group is absent.
What is conformity?
A change in a person’s behaviour or opinions as a result of real or imagined pressure from a person or group of people
Definition of identification
A moderate type of conformity where we act in the same way with the group because we value it and want to be part of it. But we don’t necessarily agree with everything the majority believes
Definition of compliance
A temporary type of conformity where we outwardly agree on the majority view but secretly disagree, lasts as long as the group is monitoring
What is social influence
The process by which individuals change each other’s attitudes and behaviours
What are explanations for conformity
Informational social influence (ISI)
Normative social influence (NSI)
Define ISI
We agree with the opinion of the majority because we believe it is correct
We accept it because we want to be correct as well
This may lead to internalisation
It is a cognitive process
THE NEED TO BE RIGHT
Define NSI
We agree with the opinion of the majority because we want to be accepted , gain social approval and be liked
This may lead to compliance
This is an emotional process
THE NEED TO BE LIKED
Strength of ISI (AO3)
Research evidence- Lucas (2006) asked students to give answers to maths questions that were easy or more difficult. There was greater conformity to incorrect answers when they were difficult rather than when they were easy. This supports the idea that we conform in ambiguous situations where we are less knowledgeable and believe others around us know better
Limitation of ISI (AO3)
Individual differences- it does not affect everyone’s behaviour in the same way.
Asch (1955) found that students were less conformist (28%) than other ps (37%).
Perrin & Spencer studied 390 engineering students in a version of Asch’s lines. They found that conformity reduced a lot indicating that people who are educated and knowledgeable trust their own judgements of precision and less likely to seek guidance from others. Therefore there are individual differences to how people respond to the pressure of the majority
Strength of NSI (AO3)
Supporting research- Asch (1951) interviewed his naive ps after the experiment they all said that they felt too self conscious to give the right answer and did not want to be the odd one out. Giving an alternative answer would have put them in the spotlight which was not desirable. Furthermore, Asch found further supporting evidence in one of his variations, when ps had to write their answers down on a sheet of paper in private, without any verbal contribution to the group. In this scenario, conformity fell from 36.8% to 12.5% indicating that they all knew the correct answers and only conformed to NSI due to fear of rejection but when their answers were reported privately, this wasn’t an issue.
Limitation of NSI (AO3)
Individual differences- some people are more concerned about being liked and accepted than others, these individuals are called nAffiliators (have a greater need for affiliation). McGhee and Teevan (1967) found that students high in need of affiliation were more likely to conform .
Shows that the desire to be liked underlies conformity for some people more than others. Shows the degree to which these theories can be applied to individual varies from person to person.
Limitation of the two process theory (AO3)
A limitation of both NSI and ISI is that the two process approach is oversimplified. The theory claims that conformity to a majority group is either due to ISI or NSI but not the two together. However this is a limitation because there is counter evidence found in a variation of Asch’s study when he introduced a dissenting partner. In this variation he found that there was a significant decrease in the wrong answer given, on average 25% from 36.8%.
—> NSI- partner acts as social support, allowing more freedom for the participant to answer.
ISI- dissenter acted as an alternative source of information therefore the participant may have thought they know better than themselves.
