Social Influence Flashcards
(92 cards)
🔄 What are the three types of conformity?
Compliance, Identification, and Internalisation.
😬 What is compliance in conformity?
Superficial and temporary type. Person conforms publicly but disagrees privately.
🧍 What is identification in conformity?
Conforming to a group because we value the group and want to be part of it, but may not agree with everything.
🧠 What is internalisation in conformity?
Deep conformity – person accepts group norms publicly and privately, and it becomes part of their belief system.
🧾 What is Informational Social Influence (ISI)?
We conform because we want to be right – especially in ambiguous or unfamiliar situations.
📚 When is ISI more likely to occur?
In situations that are new, ambiguous, or when we believe others know better.
💬 What is Normative Social Influence (NSI)?
We conform to be liked or accepted – even if we privately disagree.
👥 When is NSI more likely to occur?
In social situations where we fear rejection or want approval – such as with strangers.
✅ AO3: What supports ISI as an explanation for conformity?
Lucas et al. (2006): Greater conformity to incorrect maths answers when the questions were difficult.
✅ AO3: What supports NSI as an explanation for conformity?
Asch: Participants conformed to avoid disapproval, even when privately they knew the answer was wrong.
❌ AO3: What is a weakness of NSI and ISI explanations?
They sometimes overlap – e.g. Asch’s participants may have been affected by both ISI and NSI.
🧪 AO3: Individual differences in NSI?
People who are less concerned with being liked (nAffiliators) are less affected by NSI.
🎯 What was the aim of Asch’s conformity study?
To investigate whether individuals would conform to a majority who gave obviously incorrect answers.
🧪 What was the procedure of Asch’s study?
123 American male undergraduates took part in a line judgement task with confederates who gave wrong answers on 12 of 18 trials.
📊 What were the results of Asch’s conformity experiment?
75% of the participants conformed at least once
5% conformed every time
25% never conformed
32% was the overall conformity rate
📚 What did Asch conclude from the study?
People will conform due to normative social influence (NSI); they conform to be liked and fit into the group
❌ AO3: Limitation of Asch’s sample?
Only tested white American male students – results may not generalise (androcentric and ethnocentric).
❌ AO3: Limitation of task?
Lacked mundane realism – judging line lengths is artificial and doesn’t reflect real conformity situations.
✅ AO3: Why is Asch’s study historically important?
Showed the power of conformity and sparked further research into social influence.
❌ AO3: Effect of time and culture on Asch’s findings?
Perrin & Spencer (1980) found lower conformity in UK engineering students – suggests Asch’s findings were time- and culture-bound.
📉 AO3: What happened when Asch allowed anonymous responses?
Conformity dropped – supports the idea of NSI, as public pressure was removed.
🧍♂️ AO3: Individual differences in conformity (Asch)?
Some people are more confident and less likely to conform, showing personality plays a role.
🎯 What was the aim of Zimbardo’s prison study?
To examine whether people conform to social roles of prisoner or guard in a simulated prison.
🧪 What was the procedure of Zimbardo’s study?
24 emotionally stable male students were randomly assigned roles of guard or prisoner in a mock prison at Stanford University. The study was meant to last 2 weeks.
