Factors Affecting Conformity: Individual Factors

Question 1

Age

Answer 1

Less likely to conform with age as the older people are the less concerned they become with others opinions.

Question 2

Gender

Answer 2

Research suggests females are more likely to conform as they have been socialised into more submissive roles and are more concerned with social relationships.
Mori and Arai found that women are more likely to conform as their results showed that women conformity 4.41 times out of 12 whilst men were not swayed.

Question 3

Mood

Answer 3

People conform when in a good more as they are more agreeable

Question 4

Self-esteem

Answer 4

People with low self-esteem are more likely to conform as they need more approval. The reason for this could be normative social influence where the individual goes along with the group as they want to be accepted. An application of this is Mori and Arai’s study where the minority participant conformed to not be left out.