Social Influence - Conformity: Types & Explanations Flashcards
What did Kelman (1958) suggest the 3 ways in which people conform to the opinion of the majority.
1) Compliance
2) Identification
3) Internalisation
What is internalisation?
Internalisation involves a private and public change in behaviour in response to majority influence.
What is Identification?
The individual publicly and privately values the behaviours of the group and will change their own behaviours and beliefs to been seen as like the group. However, when not part of the group anymore the individual’s beliefs and behaviours may change so the identification is not always permanent.
What is compliance?
Where an individual conforms to a majority group publicly but not privately.
Rank the 3 types of conformity from most superficial to deepest.
1) Compliance
2) Identification
3) Internalisation
Name two reasons Deutch and Gerard (1955) came up with for why people conform.
Normative social influence (NSI)
Informational social influence (ISI)
According to NSI why do people conform
The need to be liked
According to ISI why do people conform
The need to be right
what does informational social influence lead to?
Informational social influence leads to real, long-lasting changes in beliefs.
(Internalisation)
what does normative social influence lead to?
Normative social influence leads to a public change in beliefs , but a private disagreement.
(Compliance)
EV: Research support for ISI
Lucas et Al asked students to give answers to maths problems that were easy or more difficult. There was greater conformity to incorrect answers when they were difficult than when they were easier ones. This was most true for students who rated their maths ability as poor. This shows that people conform in situations where they feel they don’t know the answer, (outcome predicted by the ISI explanation)
EV: Limitation of ISI and NSI- The two-process model is oversimplified
This approach states that behaviour is due to either NSI or ISI. However, conformity was reduced when there was a dissenting partner in the Asch experiment. This dissenter may reduce the power of NSI by providing social support or reduce the power of ISI because they are an alternative source of information. Therefore it isn’t always possible to know whether NSI or ISI is at work. This questions the view of ISI and NSI as operating independently in conforming behaviour.
EV: NSI- limitation- individual differences
One limitation of ISI is that there are individual differences. People who care more about being liked are more affected by NSI. They are nAffliators- people who have a greater need for social relationships. McGhee and Teevan found that students who are nAffliators were more likely to conform. The desire to be liked underlies conformity for some people more than others. One general theory does not cover the fact there are differences.
