Conformity explanations Flashcards
(13 cards)
Who suggested there were three ways in which people conform to the opinion of a majority?
Kelman
What is internalisation?
When a person genuinely accepts the group norm.
Results in a private as well as public change of opinions/behaviour.
Normally permanent
Due to attitudes having been internalised.
Change persists even in absence of other group members
What is identification?
We conform to the opinions/behaviour of a group because there is something about that group we value.
Identify with group so we want to be part of it.
Might publicly change our opinions to be accepted but the group, even if we don’t privately agree with everything the group stands for.
What is compliance?
Simply going along with others in public
Privately not changing personal opinions.
Results in superficial change
Means particular behaviour/opinions stops as soon as group pressure stops.
Who developed the two process theory?
Deutsch and Gerard
Two main reasons people conform.
What is information social influence?
About who has the better information
We follow the behaviour of the group because we want t be right
Cognitive process because it is to do with what you think
Leads to permanent change in opinion/behaviour (internalisation)
When is informational social influence most likely to happen?
Situations that are new to a person
Where there is some ambiguity
Occurs in crisis situations where decisions have to be made quickly and we assume that the group is more likely to be right.
What is normative social influence?
About norms or typical behaviour for a social group.
Don’t want to be seen as foolish and prefer to gain social approval rather than to be rejected.
Emotional process
Leads to temporary change in opinions/behaviour.
When is normative social influence most likely to happen?
Situations with strangers where you may feel concern of rejection
People you because we are most concerned about social approval of our friends
Stressful situations where people have greater need for social support.
What is an evaluation for normative social influence?
Research support
Evidence supports it as an explanation for conformity
Asch
Interview his participants, some said they conformed because they felt self conscious giving the correct answer, were afraid of disapproval.
Who answers were wrote down, conformity fell to 12.5%
Answers were private and so no normative group pressure.
Showing at least some conformity is due to desire not to be rejected by the group for disagreeing with them.
What is an evaluation for informative social influence?
Research support
Lucas et al
Found participants conformed more often to incorrect answers they were given when maths problems were difficult.
Because when the problems were easy the participants knew their own minds
When hard the situation became ambiguous - participants didn’t want to be wrong so relied on answers they were given
Showing it is valid explanation of conformity because results are what ISI would predict.
What is an evaluation for informative social influence?
Unclear whether it is NSI or ISI in research studies
Asch
Found conformity is reduced when this is one other dissenting participants.
Dissenter may reduce power of NSI
Or may reduce power of ISI
Both are possible
Hard to separate ISI and NSI and both processes probable operate in most real world conformity situations
What is an evaluation for normative social influence?
Individual differences
Does not predict conformity in every case.
People are greatly concerned with being liked by others.
Called nAffiliators - strong need for affiliation.
McGhee and Teevan
Found students who were nAffliators were more likely to conform.
Shows NSI underlies conformity for some people more than others
Individual differences in conformity that cannot be fully explained by one general theory of situational pressures
