Conformity

Question 1

Define conformity (2)

Answer 1

Changes in individuals’ behaviours and beliefs because of real or imagined group pressure’

Question 2

What are the three types of conformity?

Answer 2

1) Compliance
2) Identification
3) Internalisation

Question 3

AO1: Compliance

Answer 3

Most superficial and least permanent change in attitude. Individuals publicly change their beliefs and behaviours to go along with a group to fit in, but in private revert back to original belief systems and behaviours when the group pressure stops. They may not agree with what the group is doing. Compliance is linked to Normative Social Influence.

For example, when a student is at university he smokes because the rest of the group do and he wants to fit in, however he doesn’t like smoking and wouldn’t do it if he wasn’t with them.

Question 4

AO1: Identification

Answer 4

Stronger type of conformity, involving possible private as well as public acceptance. This occurs when individuals look to a group for guidance and adjust their behaviour and belief systems to the group as membership of the group is desirable and they take on a role in the group. When the group is no longer seen as valuable they revert back to their original beliefs.

Question 5

AO1: Internalisation

Answer 5

The deepest and most permanent change in attitude. Individuals publicly and privately change their belief systems to be in line with a group norm, because we accept their attitudes into our own cognitions, the behaviour lasts when the majority is no longer present. Internalisation is linked to Informational Social Influence.

Question 6

What are the two explanations of conformity?

Answer 6

1) Normative social influence
2) Informational Social Influence

Question 7

AO1: ISI

Answer 7

Driven by the desire to be right. When an individual is unsure about how to behave they conform by seeking information from the group about how to behave and assume that it’s right. This is a cognitive process. This leads to internalisation, where individuals publicly and privately change their views to be in line with a group.

Question 8

AO1: NSI

Answer 8

Driven by our desire to be liked. An individual will go along with a groups behaviour in order to avoid ridicule and gain acceptance and to fit in. This is an emotional process. This leads to compliance, where individuals publicly change their views to go along with a group but privately revert back to their original views.

Question 9

What are the evaluations for the explanations of conformity? (4)

Answer 9

1) RTS ISI - Jenness, jelly beans
2) Ecological validity
3) RTS NSI - Asch, lines
4) Gender bias

Question 10

AO3: RTS ISI - Jenness, jelly beans

Answer 10

Research to support ISI as an explanation of conformity was conducted by Jenness. Participants were asked to individually estimate the number of jelly beans in a jar, then decide on a group estimate and finally, have a last private, individual guess. Jenness found that participants second private estimate was significantly closer to the groups estimate than their own original estimate. This supports ISI because the task was ambiguous and as the participants were unsure of the answer, they sought information from the group and changed their estimate publicly and privately to be right. Therefore, increasing the validity of ISI as an explanation of conformity.

Question 11

AO3: Ecological validity (ISI)

Answer 11

However, the research to support ISI as an explanation for conformity, by Jenness, lacks ecological validity. This is because the study took place in an artificial environment (lab). Therefore, it is difficult to generalise the findings that individuals conform due to a desire to be right, to real life examples of ISI, as in real life, people may be less likely to conform to a group as there may be consequences for their actions, unlike in an artificial lab setting. Thus, further reducing the external validity of the research in to ISI and questioning ISI as an explanation of conformity.

Question 12

AO3: RTS NSI - Asch, lines

Answer 12

Research to support NSI as an explanation of conformity was conducted by Asch. Participants were asked to state which line a, b, or c was closest in length to stimulus line ‘x’. Confederates answered first and gave an incorrect answer. Asch found that participants conformed and said the same wrong answer as the confederates 37% of the time. This supports NSI as an explanation of conformity because the task was unambiguous and the participants later stated they knew the answer but conformed in order to avoid ridicule from the group, which is what NSI suggests. Therefore, increasing the validity of NSI as an explanation of conformity.

Question 13

AO3: Gender bias (NSI)

Answer 13

However, the research to support NSI as an explanation for conformity, conducted by Asch is gender bias, as only males were tested. Therefore, it is difficult to generalise the findings to females as it is suggested that females might be more conformist because they are more concerned about social relationships and are more concerned with being liked by their peers than males (Neto,1995). Therefore, this shows that NSI explains conformity for some people (females) more than it does for others (males). This weakens the external validity of research into NSI as an explanation as to why people conform.

Question 14

AO1: Asch’s conformity research
Aim?
Method?
Sample?
Procedure?
Findings?
Conclusions?

Answer 14

Aim: To investigate the effects of a majority opinion on individuals’ judgements

Method: Lab experiment

Sample: 123 American male students

· Participants were placed into groups with 7 to 9 confederates.

· They were shown a standard line ‘x’ and were three ‘comparison lines’ (A, B, C).

· One of the comparison lines was the same length as the standard line, and the other two were different

· Participants were asked to say which line (A, B or C) was the same length as the standard line (X). Participants were always last or second to last to answer.

· On 12/18 trials the confederates gave identical wrong answers.

Findings: The real participants gave a wrong answer 37% of the time when a confederate was present. Post-experiment interviews found that the majority of participants thought that the confederates were wrong snd conformed to avoid ridicule.

Conclusions: This supports NSI as participants conformed publicly, but not privately in order to be accepted by the group.

Question 15

What are the three variables affecting conformity?

Answer 15

1) Group size
2) Unanimity
3) Task difficulty

Question 16

AO1: Group size

Answer 16

Conformity rates increase as the size of a majority group increases. However, the size of the group stops having an effect on conformity once the group reaches a certain size.

· When there was one real participant, and one confederate conformity was 3%

· When there were two confederates and one real participant conformity increased to 13%

· When there were three confederates and one real participant conformity increased to 32%

However, conformity plateaued after this suggesting that the size of the majority does have an effect on conformity but only to a point (3).

Question 17

AO1: Unanimity

Answer 17

Unanimity increases conformity rates as there is complete agreement from all members of the group of people about an answer or viewpoint.

· In the original Asch study, the confederates all gave the same wrong answer and conformity was 37%

· However, when Asch varied his study and had one confederate give the correct answers (which was different to the majority answer) throughout the research conformity dropped to 5.5%

· Asch then researched whether a ’lone’ confederate who gave an answer that was both different from the majority and different to the correct answer. In this variation it was found that conformity dropped to 9%

· Asch concluded that when a dissenter breaks the group’s unanimity, rates of conformity decrease.

Question 18

AO1: Task difficulty

Answer 18

Conformity rates increase when the difficulty of a task increases.

· In one variation of Asch’s research he made the stimulus line and comparison lines more similar in length so that the correct answer was less obvious and therefore the task was harder. When the difficulty of the task increased conformity rates increased.

· This suggests that Informational Social Influence plays a greater role when the task becomes harder. When situations are unclear, we are more likely to look to others for guidance.

· As the right answer becomes less obvious we lose confidence in our own ability and are more likely to conform.

Question 19

What are the evaluations for variable affecting conformity? (4)

Answer 19

1) RTS task difficulty - Lucas et al - Maths problems
2) Conformity complex - Maths problems
3) Gender bias
4) Culture bias

Question 20

AO3: RTS task difficulty - Lucas et al - Maths problems

Answer 20

Research to support task difficulty as a variable affecting conformity was conducted by Lucas et al. He asked students to solve ‘easy’ and ‘hard’ maths problems. Participants were given three other answers from other ‘students’ (not real). The participants conformed more often when the problems were difficult rather than easy. This supports task difficulty as a variable affecting conformity because it suggests that when the task is harder, conformity increases. Therefore, increasing the validity of task difficulty as a variable affecting conformity.

Question 21

AO3: Conformity complex - Maths problems

Answer 21

However, Lucas et al’s study found that conformity is more complex than Asch suggested. Participants with high confidence in their maths abilities conformed less on the hard math’s problems than those with low confidence. This shows that an individual-level factor can influence conformity and interact with situational variables. Limiting Asch’s research into variables affecting conformity, as he did not research the roles of individual factors.

Question 22

AO3: Gender bias (variables)

Answer 22

Asch’s research into variables affecting conformity can be criticised as it is gender bias, as only males were tested. Therefore, it is difficult to generalise the findings to females as it is suggested that females might be more conformist, regardless of the variable affecting conformity, because they are more concerned about social relationships and are more concerned with being liked by their peers (Neto, 1995). Therefore, this shows that there are some factors which determine someone’s level of conformity more than the variables suggested, such as gender. This weakens the external validity of research into variables affecting conformity.

Question 23

AO3: Culture bias (Variables)

Answer 23

☹ This research can be criticised for culture bias, as it was conducted in America (a western, individualistic culture). Therefore, it is difficult to generalise the findings to non-western, collectivist cultures such as China, where the social group is more important than the individual and may be more likely to conform and agree with the group to be liked by them, regardless of the variable affecting conformity. This weakens the external validity of research into variables affecting conformity.

Question 24

AO1: Zimbardo conformity to social roles

Answer 24

The aim is to investigate how freely people would conform to the roles of guard and prisoner in a role-playing exercise that re-created prison life. A volunteer sample of 24 ’emotionally stable’ US male university students. The controlled participant observation

The volunteers were randomly allocated each student to the role of prisoner or guard.
Prisoners arrested at their homes, taken to the prison, searched, and dressed in smock uniforms. They were referred to as a number rather than by name. Guards were given uniforms, a ‘night stick’ and mirrored glasses.. These uniforms created a loss of personal identity (de-individuation). The basement of the psychology department at Stanford University was converted into a mock prison.
Zimbardo took on the role of prison superintendent.

Within a day the prisoners rebelled and ripped off their numbers and the guards responded by locking them in their cells punishments by the guards escalated. Identification was noticeable by the prisoners referring to each other and themselves by their prison numbers instead of their names. The prisoners rapidly became subdued, and depressed, with some showing serious stress-related reactions to the experience. Five prisoners were released early due to showing symptoms of psychological disturbance.
The role play had been intended to run for two weeks but was called off after just six days.

Guards, prisoners and researchers conformed to their role within the prison.
Social roles have an extraordinary power over individuals, making even the most well-adjusted capable of extreme brutality towards others.

Question 25

What are the evaluations for Zimbardo? (4 + discussion)

Answer 25

1) High control over EV 2) Discussion: exaggeration of social roles 3) Gender bias 4) Lack of informed consent 5) Demand characteristics

Question 26

AO3: EV (Zimbardo)

Answer 26

One strength of Zimbardo’s research into conformity to social roles is that it has high control over extraneous variables. One example is the way in which the participants were selected. Researchers assessed the emotional stability of the participants prior to the experiment, and randomly assigned them to the role of prisoner and guard. If guards and prisoners behaved very differently, and they were in those roles by chance, their behaviour must have been due to the role itself. This allowed Zimbardo to accurately measure the power of social roles on levels of conformity, rather than it being affected by individual personality differences. Therefore, this increases the internal validity of Zimbardo’s research investigating conformity to social roles.

Question 27

AO3: Gender bias (Zimbardo)

Answer 27

Zimbardo's research into conformity to social roles has gender bias, as Zimbardo used a male only sample, this is a weakened as it's difficult to generalise the findings that people conform to their social roles to women. It could be argued that as the role of the guard was a violent, females would not conform as much as they are stereotypically more caring and concerned for others. This reduces the external validity of the research into conformity to social roles.

Question 28

AO3: Lack of informed consent (Zimbardo)

Answer 28

A further weakness of Zimbardo’s research is that there were major ethical issues. There was a lack of informed consent, as the prisoners did not consent to being arrested at their homes and were only told they were taking part in an experiment investigating prison life. Finally, the prisoners were not protected from harm as some showed signs of psychological disturbance. Therefore, some critics may argue that despite the benefits of understanding conformity to social roles the breaking of such ethical guidelines means it shouldn’t have been conducted in the first place. However, Zimbardo carried out extensive debriefing sessions with the participants for several years afterwards and concluded that there were no long-lasting negative effects. In addition, the benefits to our understanding of social roles on human behaviour outweighs the minor cost of ethical issues on participants as the research as been used to improve training for prison staff.

Question 29

AO3: Demand characteristics (Zimbardo)

Answer 29

One criticism of Zimbardo’s research into conformity to social roles is that it is prone to demand characteristics. This is because within his procedure, Zimbardo took on the role of the prison superintendent. Therefore, Zimbardo could have influenced how the participants acted within the study. For example, they may have conformed to their role because this is what they believed Zimbardo wanted them to do , rather than because they were actually conforming to their social role of prisoner or guard due to the prison environment. The fact the participants were paid for taking part in this experiment may have influenced this further. Therefore, lowering the internal validity of the research into conformity to social roles.