CONFORMITY

Question 1

What is CONFORMITY?

Answer 1

• yielding to group pressure

- the majority influence of a group to change a person’s attitudes/beliefs

Question 2

What is COMPLIANCE?

Answer 2

• weakest form

- public change of behavior/not private

Question 3

What is IDENTIFICATION?

Answer 3

• intermediate level
• change publicly and privately
• only while a member of that group

Question 4

What is INTERNALISATION?

Answer 4

• strongest level
• true change of public and private beliefs
• truly believe majority is right

Question 5

What is NORMATIVE SOCIAL INFLUENCE?

Answer 5

• humans have a need to be accepted and approved
• conform to majority behaviour to be accepted and approved
• change behaviour to fit into group

Question 6

What is INFORMATIONAL SOCIAL INFLUENCE?

Answer 6

• humans have a desire to be right

- conform to majority behaviour to behave in correct way

Question 7

What are the 3 variables affecting conformity?

Answer 7

• group size
• unanimity
• task difficulty

Question 8

What is GROUP SIZE?

Answer 8

• conformity increases as majority size increases

- reaches a point where majority size doesn’t effect conformity

Question 9

What is the research connected to GROUP SIZE?

Answer 9

• ASCH (1956)
• 13% conformity with 2 confederates
• 32% conformity with 3 confederates
• adding extra confederates had no effect on conformity levels

Question 10

What is UNANIMITY?

Answer 10

• conformity reduces when majority is not unanimous

- if one member of group express’s different view, person less likely to conform to majority view

Question 11

What is the research connected to UNANIMITY?

Answer 11

• ASCH (1956)
• if 1 confederate gave correct answer, conformity rate dropped to 5.5%
• if they gave the other wrong answer, conformity rate dropped to 9%

Question 12

What is TASK DIFFICULTY?

Answer 12

• conformity increases as task difficulty increases
• individuals look to others for guidance
• informational social influence

Question 13

What is the research linked to TASK DIFFICULTY?

Answer 13

• ASCH (1956)

- when lines were more similar to each-other, ppt more likely to conform

Question 14

What was the aim of ASCH’s study?

Answer 14

-to what extent people will conform to a majority opinion even when it appears obviously incorrect

Question 15

What was the procedure of ASCH’s study?

Answer 15

• 50 American male college students
• group of 7
• all other people were confederates
• target line card and 3 different length lines card
• ppt said which line matches target line
• correct answer always obvious
• confederates briefed with specific answers
• 18 trials
• 6 correct answers
• 12 wrong answers (critical trial)
• answers out loud, ppt always second from last
• post experimental interview

Question 16

What were the findings of ASCH’s study

Answer 16

• average level of conformity 32% in critical trials
• no ppt conformed on very critical trial
• 74% ppt conformed at least once

Question 17

What was the conclusion of ASCH’s study?

Answer 17

• even when correct answer not ambiguous majority has huge effect on individual
• people may go along with majority for different reasons
• majority doesn’t have the same impact on everyone

Question 18

What were ASCH’s findings? (interviews)

Answer 18

• showed 3 levels of conformity
• inaccurate perception
• did not want to be minority in case of exclusion
• thought they gave correct answer, not influenced

Question 19

What is a strength of ASCH’s research?

Answer 19

• research support by CRUTCHFIELD (1953)
• eliminated face to face contact by placing ppts in booths
• conformity increased when task difficulty increased

Question 20

What is a weakness of ASCH’s research? (1)

Answer 20

ECOLOGICAL VALIDITY

• mori and arai (2010)
• argued ASCH’s study may not tell us about real life situations
• artificial and lacks mundane realism

Question 21

What is a weakness of ASCH’s research? (2)

Answer 21

CULTURAL DIFFERENCES

• meta analysis by smith and bond (1998)
• found conformity levels were higher in collectivist cultures (interdependence highly valued)
• than individualistic cultures (independence)

Question 22

Which researches provided evidence for NORMATIVE SOCIAL INFLUENCE?

Answer 22

• GARANDEAU and CILLESSEN (2006)

- LINKENBACH and PERKINS (2003)

Question 23

What was GARENDEAU and CILLESSEN’s study?

Answer 23

GARANDEAU and CILLESSEN (2006)

• children with higher needs for social expectance more likely to conform to bully behaviour
• by conforming they believed they would be accepted, and maintain the friendship regardless of how they privately felt about bullying

Question 24

What was LINKENBACH and PERKINS study? (2003)

Answer 24

• adolescents exposed to message that majority of peers did not smoke
• meant they were less likely to smoke

Question 25

Which researchers provided evidence for INFORMATIONAL SOCIAL INFLUENCE?

Answer 25

- JENNESS (1932) | - ALLEN (1980)

Question 26

What was the aim of JENNESS’s study? (1932)

Answer 26

-investigate whether individual judgments of number of jelly beans was influenced by discussion in groups

Question 27

What was the procedure of JENNESS’s study? (1932)

Answer 27

- 811 white beans - ppt made individual estimates - discussed with others and made a group estimate - ppt made second individual estimate

Question 28

What were the findings of JENNESS’s study? (1932)

Answer 28

- nearly all ppt changed their answer - on average males changed their answer by 256 beans - females 382 beans

Question 29

What was the conclusion of JENNESS’s study?

Answer 29

- showed power of conformity in ambiguous situation - likely to be result of INFORMATIONAL SOCIAL INFLUENCE - ppt changed answers as they thought group estimate was more accurate

Question 30

What did ALLEN (1980) find?

Answer 30

- intelligent and self-confident people less likely to conform - as they have more knowledge and confidence so don’t need to look to others

Question 31

What was ZIMBARDO ET AL (1973) aim?

Answer 31

- investigate brutality in American prisons | - if it was due to guards sadistic personalities or influence of prison environment

Question 32

What was ZIMBARDOS (1973) procedure?

Answer 32

- basement of psych department in standford uni - 21 male chosen from 75 ppts - paid to take part - randomly assigned to guard or prisoner - Zimbardo played prison superintendent - ppt arrested without warning - guards wore uniforms, mirrored sunglasses, handcuffs, keys, truncheons - prisoners wore smocks, nylon caps, addressed by their number - stopped after 6 days due to brutality

Question 33

What were ZIMBARDOS findings? (1973)

Answer 33

- prisoners and guards settled quickly into their roles - guards become more sadistic and cruel - prisoners became more submissive and unquestioning of guards behaviour - prisoners showed de-individuation by calling eachother by their numbers

Question 34

What is a strength of ZIMBARDOS (1973) study?

Answer 34

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS - Zimbardo argued his findings of conformity were shown in Iraq prison - believed the abuse was due to situational factors - lack of training, boredom, no accountability

Question 35

What is weakness of ZIMBARDOS (1973) study? (1)

Answer 35

CONFORMING TO SOCIAL ROLES NOT AUTOMATIC - guards behaviour varied from being sadistic to good guards - haslam and Reicher (2012) argued the guards chose how to behave

Question 36

What is weakness of ZIMBARDOS (1973) study? (2)

Answer 36

ECOLOGICAL VALIDITY - ppt conforming to social roles due to demand characteristics - cannot generalise and doesn’t tell us about conformity in real prisons