Conformity (Social Influence)

Question 1

What is a private attitude?

Answer 1

Genuine beliefs/feelings about something.

Question 2

What is a public attitude?

Answer 2

What they tell others they believe and feel.

Question 3

What is conformity?

Answer 3

When a persons private or public attitudes are influenced by the majority.

Question 4

What are the three types of conformity?

Answer 4

• Compliance
• Identification
• Internalisation

Question 5

What is compliance?

Answer 5

Where someone conforms publicly but not privately.

Question 6

What is the reason for compliance?

Answer 6

Fear of social rejection.

Question 7

What is the duration for compliance?

Answer 7

Very short.

Question 8

What is the strength of compliance?

Answer 8

Weak.

Question 9

What is identification?

Answer 9

Public and private conformity.

Question 10

What is the reason for identification?

Answer 10

Desire to imitate a role model or fit a social role.

Question 11

What is the duration for identification?

Answer 11

Short but depends on attractiveness of group.

Question 12

What is the strength of identification?

Answer 12

Medium.

Question 13

What is internalisation?

Answer 13

Public and private conformity.

Question 14

What is the reason for internalisation?

Answer 14

Persuaded that the attitude is correct.

Question 15

What is the duration for internalisation?

Answer 15

Long-lasting.

Question 16

What is the strength of internalisation?

Answer 16

Strong.

Question 17

What are the three situational variables that affect conformity?

Answer 17

1) Group size
2) Unanimity
3) Task difficulty

Question 18

What happens if the situational variables increase?

Answer 18

People are more likely to conform.

Question 19

What are the two explanations for conformity?

Answer 19

• Normative social influence (NSI)
• Informational social influence (ISI)

Question 20

What is normative social influence (NSI)

Answer 20

• When people conform to feel accepted and fit in.

Question 21

When does normative social influence occur?

Answer 21

In situations of high social pressure.

Question 22

What type of conformity does normative social influence result in?

Answer 22

Compliance.

Question 23

What is informational social influence? (ISI)

Answer 23

When people conform as they want to be correct as they believe majority is correct.

Question 24

When does informational social influence occur?

Answer 24

When uncertainty is high and social pressure is low.

Question 25

What types of conformity does informational social influence result in?

Answer 25

Internalisation ot identification.

Question 26

Who study supports the ISI?

Answer 26

Jenness.

Question 27

What was Jenness’s procedure?

Answer 27

Asked people to estimate how many jelly beans were in a jar (before and after group discussions).

Question 28

What were Jenness findings?

Answer 28

People estimates conformed to the group estimate after the discussion even though the group was no longer present.

Question 29

What did Jenness conclude?

Answer 29

Confroming by internalisation due to uncertainty, thinking the groups estimate was correct.

Question 30

What is a limitation of Jenness’s study?

Answer 30

NSI might also have has influenced behaviour (yet is ignored).

Question 31

Which studies investigated conformity?

Answer 31

• Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment
• Asch

Question 32

What was the procedure in Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment?

Answer 32

• Gained student volunteers + selected those emotionally stable after psychological testing.
• Set up a mock prison.
• Randomly assigned ppts social roles of either guard or prisoners (provided them with uniform).
• Was a controlled and overt observation/

Question 33

What were the findings in Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment?

Answer 33

They all conformed to their roles.

Guards = treated prisoners harshly
Prisoners = tried to rebel, then became passive.

• Study had to be stopped after 6 days when 14 was intended.

Question 34

What are the limitations for Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment?

Answer 34

• Unethical = stress which has long lasting consequences.
• Lack generalisability: only white, middle class, male students were recruited.
• Lack ecological validity: ppts may not have believed it was real, they may not have behaved as they would in the real world.

Question 35

What is a strength for Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment?

Answer 35

• He had control over variables such as the selection of ppts being randomly assigned.
• This rules out individual personality differences, increasing internal validity meaning a more valid result about influence roles on behaviour.

Question 36

What was Asch’s aim?

Answer 36

To investigate whether people would conform with the majority when they are obviously wrong.

Question 37

What was Asch’s procedure?

Answer 37

Asked ppts in the experiment group to judge line lengths in presence of confederates who gave the wrong answer.

• A control group gave their answers privately.

Question 38

What were the findings in Asch’s study?

Answer 38

Ppts did conform and gave the wrong answer.

75% = confromed at least once
32% = overall conformity rate

• Ppts didn’t seem to give the wrong answer because they didn’t know, as the control group had a 0.04% error rate.

Question 39

What happend to conformity when Asch reduced unanimity?

Answer 39

When one confederate disagreed with majority there was a decrease in conformity.

Question 40

What happend to conformity when Asch increased group size?

Answer 40

There was an increase in conformity (only up to a certain point).

Question 41

What happend to conformity when Asch increased task difficulty?

Answer 41

There was an increase in conformity.

Question 42

What are the limitations of Asch’s study?

Answer 42

• Lab study = lack ecological validity.
• Demand characteristics = ppts might have realised confederates were deliberately giving the wrong answer as the ppts gave the wrong answer.

Question 43

What strengths counteract the limitations in Asch’s study?

Answer 43

• Lab study = establish cause + effect relationship for the presence of the majority giving the wrong answers + ppts giving wrong answer.
• Ppts stated they thought the confederates were real ppts.