Conformity

Question 1

what is conformity?

Answer 1

change in belief or behaviour

Question 2

what is identification?

Answer 2

Person agrees with the group and adopts behaviour even when alone. May be temporary – stops if person leaves the group

Question 3

what is internalisation?

Answer 3

Behaviour is adopted permanently, even when the person has left the group.

Question 4

what is compliance?

Answer 4

Person “goes along” with the group but keeps their own beliefs

Question 5

what was the jenness (1932) experiment? ( describe the steps)

Answer 5

• He asked participants individually to estimate how many beans the bottle contained.
• Jenness then put the group in a room with the bottle, and asked them to provide a group estimate through discussion.

• Participants were then asked to estimate the number on their own again to find whether their initial estimates had altered based on the influence of the majority.
• Jenness then interviewed the participants individually again, and asked if they would like to change their original estimates, or stay with the group’s estimate.

Question 6

what were the results of the jenness (1932) experiment?

Answer 6

Almost all changed their individual guesses to be closer to the group estimate.

Question 7

what was the conclusion of the jenness (1932) experiment?

Answer 7

when we are unsure of an answer we look to others for help assuming that a majority figure will be more reliable.

Question 8

what was the autokinetic effect (sherrif, 1935) experiment?

Answer 8

The autokinetic effect – an optical illusion.
• A bright light in a dark room will appear to move.
• Participants asked to estimate how much the light was moving.
• First tested alone, then 3 times in a group, then alone again.

Question 9

what was the results of the autokinetic experiment (sherrif, 1935)?

Answer 9

Over trials, participants began to give very similar estimates
• The final “group estimate” persisted even when participants were once again tested alone.

Question 10

what was the conclusion of the 1935 autokinetic experiment?

Answer 10

Sherif concluded that a group norm had been created that everyone was conforming to.

Question 11

what was an issue with the autokinetic experiment?

Answer 11

there was no correct answer anyway – movement is an illusion.

Question 12

what was the aim of the asch paradigm (1935)?

Answer 12

to test conformity by investigating participants’ willingness to agree with others who are clearly incorrect.

Question 13

what was the experimental procedure of the asch experiment

Answer 13

• 1 true participant tested in a group with 7-9 confederates
• Answers spoken aloud, participant always last or last but one to answer.
• Neutral Trials (6, including 1st two) - confederates give the correct answer.
• Critical Trials (12) - confederates unanimously give the wrong answer.

Question 14

what were the results of the asch experiment?

Answer 14

• people conformed 32% (1/3) of the time in the 1476 trials
• One person conformed on 11 of the 12 trials
• 74% of participants conformed at least once.
• 13 participants (26%) never conformed.

Question 15

name 2 advantages of the asch experiment to future psychologists who want to do similar experiments

Answer 15

1. he was able to prove that people would conform under controlled laboratory conditions
2. the way the experiment was designed meant it was easy to modify for future adaptations of the experiment.

Question 16

name 2 disadvantages of the asch experiment

Answer 16

• Laboratory studies are always a bit artificial and may not show how people behave in the “real world”.
• Guessing lines is a pretty trivial task. Would people conform if it was about something they really cared about?

Question 17

name 2 differences of the asch experiment compared to the mori & arai

Answer 17

• They used 3D filter glasses to make the participants see different things, whereas asch had everyone see the same thing, but some people lied about the line.
• They tested both men & women, whereas asch only tested men.

Question 18

what was the aim of the mori & arai experiment?

Answer 18

• To replicate Asch’s experiment, without using confederates and using male & female participants.

Question 19

what method was used in the mori & arai experiment?

Answer 19

• Mori and Arai replicated Asch’s line comparison task with 104 participants tested in groups of four at a time.
• In each group, three participants wore identical glasses, with one participant wearing a different set, so they observed that a different line matched the target line.
• As in Asch’s studies,the participants stated their answers publicly, with the minority participant always going third.
• Asch used male participants only, the new study involved both men and women

Question 20

what were the results of the mori & arai experiment?

Answer 20

• For women only, the new findings closely matched Asch, with the minority participant being swayed by the majority on an average of 4.41 times out of 12 key trials (compared with 3.44 times in the original).
• The male participants in the new study were not swayed by the majority view.

Question 21

What is a weakness of the Mori & Arai experiment?

Answer 21

Still a fairly trivial task.

Question 22

How does the SITUATIONAL factor of unanimity affect conformity?

Answer 22

Conformity drops dramatically if even one person disagrees with the majority - this happened with Asch, even if that confederate is also wrong.

Question 23

How does the SITUATIONAL factor of group size affect conformity?

Answer 23

Conformity increases as group size increases, however it stops when group size hits 4 - conformity falls with very large groups. (3% conformity with 1 confederate, 14% with 2 and 32% with 3.)

Question 24

How does the SITUATIONAL factor of secrecy affect conformity?

Answer 24

Conformity fell to 5% when participants wrote answers down, rather than calling them out.

Question 25

How does the SITUATIONAL factor of similarity of group affect conformity?

Answer 25

Asch used strangers in his experiment, Abrams et al (1990) found greater conformity when participants believed they had something in common with the rest of the group.

Question 26

How does the SITUATIONAL factor of task difficulty affect conformity?

Answer 26

Conformity increases with task difficulty and falls with familiarity.

Question 27

How does the INDIVIDUAL factor of gender affect conformity?

Answer 27

Mori and Arai found conformity with only women. This may be because women are more concerned with social relationships than men.

Question 28

How does the INDIVIDUAL factor of self esteem affect conformity?

Answer 28

Asch suggested that those with low self esteem are more likely to conform because they are more likely to fear rejection from a group.

Question 29

How does the INDIVIDUAL factor of need for social approval affect conformity?

Answer 29

If an individual has a strong need for social approval they are more likely to conform to a group.

Question 30

How does the INDIVIDUAL factor of social relationships affect conformity?

Answer 30

If an individual is concerned about social relationships, they are more likely to conform - tends to be women.

Question 31

What is a collectivist culture?

Answer 31

In societies with the priority of group harmony, conformity is higher. These cultures are collectivist (Japan, Korea, China etc.).
Interdependence is more highly valued than independence in these cultures.
Family work and goals are more important than individual desires.

Question 32

What is an individualistic culture?

Answer 32

This is where individual needs are more important than those of the overall group. Places such as the USA, UK and Germany are individualistic. Conformity tends to be lower in these cultures.

Question 33

What is ISI (Informational Social Influence)?

Answer 33

This is when a person needs to understand something that they do not understand, so they compare and conform to the answers of their peers to gain a better understanding and certainty in this topic. This is public and private acceptance.

Question 34

What is NSI (Normative Social Influence)?

Answer 34

This is when someone feels the need to be accepted by a group, and so they comply with the beliefs of a group, and keep their own beliefs to themselves so that they can get the approval they desire from their peers.

Question 35

Describe the Moscovici et al (1969) study into minority influence.

Answer 35

Two confederates were placed in a group of 6, judging whether a slide was blue or green.
The confederates claimed that certain blue slides were green.
Just over 8% of real participants agreed, but only when the two confederates agreed.

Question 36

What is majority influence?

Answer 36

This is when a person’s behaviour changes to match that of a majority within a group.
This has been famously researched by Asch, Jenness and Sheriff.