Social Influence- Conformity Flashcards
(17 cards)
What is conformity?
A change in a persons behaviour or opinions as a result of real or imagined pressure from a person/ group of people.
What is internalisation (type of conformity)?
Genuinely accepts the group’s norms. Not only a public change of opinions/behaviour, private too. Likely to be permanent.
What is identification (type of conformity)?
Conform because there’s something you value about the group. Identify with their values/behaviours- agree with it somewhat. Public agreement, private not necessarily.
What is compliance (type of conformity)?
Involves ‘going along with others’ publicly, but not changing opinions/behaviours privately.
What is Deutsch and Gerrard’s 2 process theory? (Explanation for conformity)
2 main reasons we conform- to be right, to be liked.
Informational social influence- conforms to gain knowledge/because they believe somebody else is right.
Normative social influence- conforms to feel accepted into a group. Socially rewarding, done to avoid social rejection.
What was the procedure of Asch’s line study? (Explanation for conformity)
Tested conformity by showing ptpts 2 cards at a time. One card- standard line. Other card- 3 comparison lines. Ones clearly same length as standard, other two obviously different. Ptpts asked to say out loud which line matched.
Sample- 123 male American undergrads.
Each naive ptpt tested individually with 6-8 confederates. First few trials all gave right answer, and then gradually started making errors. Altogether took part in 18 trials, and in 12 ‘critical trials’ confederates gave wrong answer.
What were the findings of Asch’s line study? (Explanation for conformity)
74% of ptpts conformed at least once.
24% didn’t conform on any trials.
When interviewed afterwards- said it was to avoid rejection (normative SI)
What is the Asch effect?
Extent to which ptpts conform even when situation is unambiguous.
Explain group size (one of Asch’s variations)
When there were 3 confederates, conformity rose to 32%. Addition of further confederates made little difference. Small majority sufficient for influence, no need for more than 3.
Explain unanimity (one of Asch’s variations)
Addition of non conformist partner, levels dropped to 25%.
Explain task difficulty (one of Asch’s variations)
Made task more ambiguous- lines similar in length. Conformity increased. Informational social influence plays greater role when task is harder.
What is a strength of Asch’s line study?
Supporting evidence.
Lucas’s study- easy/hard mathematical equations. Conformity increased when question was harder.
Supports Asch’s variations- task difficulty.
High internal.
What are 2 weaknesses of Asch’s line study?
Biased sample.
123 male American students.
Can’t generalise to e.g. females, older people, etc.
Low population validity.
Lab experiment- artificial.
Line studies not reflective of real life, potential demand characteristics.
Low external validity.
What was the procedure of Zimbardo’s prison study? (Conformity to social roles)
Advertised in a newspaper. 75 volunteers. Interviewed/screened their mental health previously. 21 American white males selected, $15 a day.
Randomly allocated to role of either prisoner or guard, placed in mock prison in basement.
Arrested ‘prisoners’ outside their homes, stripped, fingerprinted etc.
Guards given uniforms- dark sunglasses, truncheon etc.
Instructed to run the prison how they wanted but with no physical violence, intended to last 2 weeks.
What were the findings of Zimbardo’s prison study? (Conformity to social roles)
Guards took on their roles and treated prisoners harshly. After 2 days prisoners rebelled, ripping uniforms etc. Guards dehumanised prisoners- cleaning toilets in the middle of the night etc. 5 prisoners released early, experiment ended after 6 days.
Concluded that situational factors are largely responsible for conformity to social roles.
What is a strength of Zimbardo’s prison study?
Control over key variables.
E.g. selection of ptpts- randomly allocated into each group, therefore ruling out personality differences from affecting the results.
High internal validity.
What are 2 weaknesses of Zimbardo’s prison study?
Ethical issues- protection from harm. Investigator bias.
5 ptpts had to leave early due to adverse reactions, guards felt extreme guilt, Zimbardo ‘superintendent’, too involved, not taking care of his ptpts.
Androcentric- beta bias.
Sample only American males. Research may have minimised difference between men and women in relation to conformity to social roles.
