Conformity Flashcards
(17 cards)
What is Conformity?
A type of social influence where you change your behaviour to go along with the group, even if you don’t agree with them.
Due to Real/ imagined pressure
What are the 3 Types of conformity? (And explain)
Compliance: weakest level of conformity, publicly change behaviour beliefs to fit a group, but not privately. Superficial, eg: pretending to like film you dislike (NSI)
Identification: public and private, but only as long as they are associate with the group. Eg: adopting a groups music taste and style, social identity.
Internalisation: Strongest type of conformity. Permanent, private and public. Internalise beliefs and behaviours eg: genuine religious conversion. (ISI)
What are the reasons for conformity?
Normative Social Influence (NSI): need to be liked, emotionally driven Eg: peer pressure
Informational Social Influence (ISI): need to be right, driven by belief that others have more knowledge Eg: greetings in other cultures
Which study attempts to explain reasons for conformity?
Asch’s line judging task
What was the procedure of Aschs study?
- 123 male ps
- 3 comparison lines
- Ps had to match the line task
- Put into groups with confederates
- Put towards the end of the table
What were the results of Asch’s baseline study?
- 75% ps conformed to a wrong answer at least once
- 5% ps conformed to every incorrect answer
(Compared to the error rate of 0.04% in control trials) - Example of NSI
What were the variables in Asch’s follow up studies?
Group Size
Unanimity
Task Difficulty
How did group size affect conformity in Asch follow up study?
Increasing group size increased conformity TO A CERTAIN POINT
- Used 1-16 confederates
- 1 c= conformity rate 3%
- 2 c= conformity rate 13%
- 3c= conformity rate 33%
After remained steady.
How did Unanimity affect conformity in Asch’s study?
Asch added another non conforming person
Presence of him meant conformity was reduced by 1/4
How did Task Difficulty affect conformity in Asch’s study?
Asch made stimulus and comparison lines more similar.
ISI plays a greater role when tasks become harder, more ambiguous
Significantly increased levels of conformity (ISI)
What is a positive evaluation for Asch’s study?
(+) Lab experiment
- high internal validity
- carefully controlled and standardised
- every P had same experience- same lines in same order
How can the participants for Asch’s study be a negative evaluation?
- Gender bias- all male
- Demand characteristics, knew they were in a study, could’ve gone along with what they thought the researcher wanted.
How is replication an issue in Asch’s study?
Failure to replicate (Perrin + Spencer)
UK study
One conforming person from 300+ trials
- Therefore was it due to timing?, research took place in a period of US history where conformity was more important.
Explain the limitations of ecological validity in Asch’s research.
The tasks were artificial, not clear the extent to which his findings generalised to the real world.
How can Asch’s study support explanations for conformity?
NSI- Asch’s OG study.
- 75% conformed at least once
- to avoid being socially rejected
- when written answers, conformity dropped
ISI- Task Difficulty
- When increased difficulty, more ambiguous
- Ps rely on judgement of confederates to make correct decisions
How can personality be a limiting factor in explanations for conformity?
People more sensitive to social rejection are more likely to conform
Those with higher confidence/ high internal LOC are less likely to conform
How can the differentiation between ISI and NSI be a negative evaluation?
- Ps may not even be aware of their true motivations, may seek both.
- EG: in a crisis, look towards others for cues on how to react (ISI) but stick together for safety (NSI)
