conformity Flashcards
(19 cards)
what is the definition of conformity
a change in a persons behaviour or opinions as a result of real or imagined pressure
what are variables affecting conformity
group size, task difficulty, unanimity, social support, whether answer is public or private
what are the 3 types of conformity
compliance, internalisation, identification
explain compliance
compliance is when a person changes their beliefs publicly in order to fit in with the majority groups beliefs. this type of conformity is temporary as when the individual is in private they go back to their original views. this type of conformity is mostly associated with normative social influence
what is the effect of group size on conformity according to Asch (1951)
group size increased when more confederates were added thus increasing the majority. Asch found that with increasing group size conformity increased up to a point. it levelled off when three confederates where added.
what is the effect of unanimity on conformity according to Asch (1951)
Asch found that when all the confederates were unanimous in their answers conformity was at its highest.
what is the effect of task difficulty on conformity according to Asch (1951)
Asch found that increasing the difficulty of the line test caused conformity levels to increase as participants were more likely to assume the rest of the group were right
how often did the participants conform to the groups answers in the baseline procedure
one third of the time
how many of the participants never conformed
25%
what did conformity rates increase to with the presence of 3 confederates
31%
how much did the conformity rate decrease with the presence of a dissenter
less than a quarter of the original rate
explain internalisation in context of conformity
internalisation is what is called ‘true conformity’ this is when an individual publicly and privately accepts the majority group belief system. this change in belief is permanent.
explain identification in context of conformity
identification is when an individual changes their beliefs to the majority belief system because they identify with the group. this change is only in public and can be temporary or permanent.
how does informational social influence affect conformity
this type of social influence stems from our desire to be right. it is about whether we believe the majority group is more likely to be right than we are ourselves. we may change our beliefs permanently if we believe the majority groups belief system to be right, this is called internalisation.
how does normative social influence affect conformity
normative social influence stems from our desire to be liked and fear of being left out. we feel that if we go along with the majority groups belief system we will be more accepted within the group. this leads to compliance, where we publicly agree but privately disagree.
what evidence supports normative social influence
asch (1951) interviewed his participants and found that some participants said they only said the wrong answer out of fear of disapproval from the confederates for saying the right answer. when participants were made to write their answers down conformity fell to 25% as there was no normative group pressure.
what evidence supports informational social influence
lucas et al (2006) found maths problems that were harder had higher conformity rates as participants were ambiguous as to the answer
what evidence is against NSI and ISI
lacks validity as in most situations it is unclear whether its NSI or ISI that affects an individuals behaviour. we can see this in Asch’s experiment when he found that conformity is reduced when another dissenter is introduced but we dont know whether this is due to do social support so reducing effects of NSI or reducing ISI due to an alternate source of social information
whats a limitation for NSI
individual differences affect NSI as some people are nAffiliators meaning they have a personality whichh
