Social Influence: Conformity

Question 1

Conformity can be defined as?

Answer 1

A change in belief or behaviour in order to fit in with a group.
This change is in response to either real (involving the physical presence of others) or imagined (involving the pressure of social norms / expectations) group pressure.’

Question 2

Describe compliance

Answer 2

This type of conformity involves simply ‘going along with others’ in public, but privately not changing personal opinions and/or behaviour.

Compliance results in only a superficial change and often temporary. It also means that a particular behaviour or opinion stops as soon as group pressure stops.

Question 3

Describe identification

Answer 3

Sometimes we conform to the opinions / behaviours of a group because there is something about that group we value. We identify with the group, so we want to be a part of it. This identification may mean we publicly change our opinions/behaviour to be accepted by the group, even if we don’t privately agree with everything the group stands for.
This conformity will last as long as you’re a member of the group.

Question 4

Describe internalisation

Answer 4

Internalisation occurs when a person genuinely accepts the group norms. This results in private as well as a public change of opinion / behaviour.

This change is usually permanent because attitudes have been internalised, i.e., become part of the way the person thinks. The change in opinions/behaviour persists even in the absence of other group members.

Question 5

Which 3 factors did asch identify that make people more/less likely to conform?

Answer 5

1. difficulty of task
2. size of majority
3. unanimity

Question 6

Aim of Asch’s study

Answer 6

To investigate the extent to which social pressure from a majority group could affect a person to conform.

Question 7

Procedure of Asch’s study

Answer 7

-123 American male student volunteers took part in what they were told was a study of visual perception.
-They were placed around a table of confederates, believing themselves to be a small part of the group, when in fact they were the only genuine ppt.
-The task was to state what comparison line (A, B or C) was the same as the stimulus line. 12 of these trials were ‘critical’ whereby the confederates were instructed to give the same incorrect answer.
-The naive ppt gave his answer last but one, so he saw his peers give the incorrect answer.

Question 8

Results of Asch’s

Answer 8

The naive participant gave a wrong answer 36.8% of the time.
Overall, 25% pps never conformed; 75% conformed at least once.

Question 9

What were the main responses when Asch asked to PP why they conformed?

Answer 9

1. They knew were giving the wrong answers but did not want to stand out
2. Some pps truly doubted their own judgement so agreed with the majority

Question 10

Describe ‘difficulty of the task’ as a factor that affects conformity

Answer 10

Asch made the line-judging task more difficult by making the stimulus line and the comparison lines more similar in length.
He found that conformity increased under these conditions.
This suggests that informational social influence plays a greater role when the task becomes harder.
This is largely because the situation is more ambiguous, so we are more likely to look to other people for guidance and to assume that they are right and we are wrong.

Question 11

Supporting research for ‘difficulty of the task’

Answer 11

Lucas, 2006 found that participants conformed more to an incorrect answer when the maths problems were difficult. This is because when the maths problem was easy, they ‘knew their own mind’, but when the problem was hard, the situation became ambiguous.

Question 12

Describe ‘size of the majority’ as a factor that affects conformity

Answer 12

When the number of confederates was reduced conformity dramatically declined.
With 1 confederate the conformity rate was about 3%, 2 confederates the conformity rate = approx 13% and with 3 confederates the conformity rate jumped to about 31%
The conformity rate then plateaued
This is largely because with more people in the majority we feel more anxiety (uncertainty) and more pressure to comply with the group

Question 13

Contradictory research for ‘size of the majority’ of Ashe’s study

from Bond

Answer 13

Bond (2005) showed that It is argued that normative influence is likely to be stronger when participants make public responses and are face-to-face with the majority, whereas informational influence is likely to be stronger when participants make private responses and communicate with the majority indirectly.’

Question 14

Describe unanimity as a factor that affects conformity

Answer 14

Variation 1 → One of the confederates was instructed to give the correct answer throughout. In this variation the rate of conformity dropped to 5%.
Variation 2 → One of the confederates gave a different incorrect answer to the majority. In this variation conformity dropped to 9%.

This is largely because if you break a group’s unanimous position, the pressure to conform is reduced and people are more confident in expressing disagreement as they feel less anxiety

Question 15

Supporting research for unanimity

Answer 15

Moscovici showed that the minority groups can influence the majority as long as the minority show CONSISTENCY in their behaviour.

Question 16

Zimbardo prison experiment aim

Answer 16

To investigate the extent to which people would conform to the roles of guard and prisoner in a role playing simulation of prison life.

Question 17

Finding of Zimbardo’s study

Answer 17

Guards took up their roles with enthusiasm, treating prisoners harshly.
Day 2 - prisoners rebelled (ripped their uniforms, shouted and swore at the guards) - the guards retaliated with fire extinguishers.
The guards used ‘divide-and-conquer’ tactics by playing the prisoners off against each other - harassing them constantly to remind them of the powerlessness of their role (e.g., head counts).
Guards created opportunities to enforce rules and administer punishments.
Prisoners became subdued, depressed and anxious.
One prisoner was released after 36 hours as he was showing symptoms of psychological disturbance. Two more released on the fourth day.
One prisoner went on a hunger strike so the guards tried to force-feed him, then punished him by putting him in ‘the hole’ (a tiny dark closet).
The guard’s behaviour became increasingly brutal and aggressive, with some appearing to enjoy the power they had over the prisoners.
Both roles were surprised about how they acted during the experiment.

Question 18

Conclusion of Zimbardo’s study

Answer 18

The situational explanation appears to have been supported here, as the participants were considered emotionally stable beforehand, suggesting that the situational had been the main driver behind their behaviour.
Therefore, these findings suggest that people readily conform to social roles, regardless of the morality of the situation.

Question 19

What are the two explanations of conformity?

Answer 19

Deutsch and Gerard (1955) put forward a two-part model to explain why people conform. This model distinguishes between informational social influence and normative social influence as they are both crucial to understanding conformity.

Question 20

Describe informational social influence

Answer 20

Based on cognitive factors.
We conform because we need to be right, so we look to others for the right answer. Is a situation is ambiguous (it isn’t clear what is right), or we believe others are experts, then we will go along with them as they have superior knowledge.
It matters who the majority are. We are likely to be influenced if the majority are people we admire and respect, similar to ourselves.
As it is driven by cognitive factors, this leads to internalisation (a change in behaviour and private opinions).

Question 21

Describe normative social influence

Answer 21

Based on emotional factors.
Here, conformity occurs because of a need to be liked by others and to be a part of the group. If we conform, we will be rewarded with respect and acceptance (we become part of the group).
As it is driven by emotional factors, this leads to compliance (or identification).
Compliance means that a person changes their behaviour to be part of the group and avoid rejection, but they may not change their opinions and attitudes, and privately they disagree with the behaviour (or basis of the behaviour).

Question 22

Evaluation point for explanations for conformity: ISI Research

Answer 22

A strength of the informational social influence (ISI) explanation for why people conform is that there is Research to support the explanation.
Asch found a 37% conformity rate to the wrong answer when asking 123 Pts a simple visual perception task.
When asked afterwards some Pt’s said they truly doubted their own judgement, so agreed with the majority
This suggests that some participants conformed due to the desire to be right - i.e. informational reasoning

Question 23

Evaluation point for explanations for conformity: lacks generalisability

Answer 23

However, an issue with explanations of conformity is that a lot of the research is artificial and therefore cannot be generalised to real life settings.
For example conforming to a number of strangers when judging lines is very different to conforming to a group in your everyday life.
Particularly in a setting that you are familiar with i.e. a laboratory

This means that NSI and ISI are both well supported with credible evidence - casting doubt on the theory

Question 23

Evaluation point for explanations for conformity: incomplete explanation

Answer 23

One theoretical problem with either the NSI or ISI explanation is that it fails to take into account individual differences.
Some people will be less confident in their beliefs and may have more need to be liked so it is impossible for us to say that everyone reacts the same to social influences like conformity.

In addition, some people have some personality traits that make them more (or less) conformist
This implies that NSI and ISI provide incomplete explanations of conformity

Question 24

Evaluation point for explanations for conformity: practical applications

Answer 24

Another strength are the practical Applications of the SITUATIONAL explanation. Just being aware that we are capable of conforming in this way could help companies and organisations use the theory to alter people’s behaviour.

For example Schultz conducted a study which looked at placing messages in hotel bathrooms asking to customers to think if they needed a clean towel every day, the messages put in the bathrooms suggested that a high percentage of guests were helping to save the environment by using their towel more than once.

This study shows that both NSI and ISI can have good use in the real world

Question 25

Evaluation point for explanations for conformity: NSI research

Answer 25

A strength of the normative social influence (NSI) explanation for why people conform is that there is Research to support the explanation.
Asch found a 37% conformity rate to the wrong answer when asking 123 Pts a simple visual perception task.
When asked afterwards they said They knew they were giving the wrong answers, but did not want to stand out.
This implies that Asch’s participants conformed due to normative factors, as the participants had the desire to be accepted in the group of the confederates.