SOCIAL INFLUENCE: Explanations For Conformity Flashcards
(5 cards)
Normative social influence
When a person conforms because they have a desire to fit in and they don’t want to appear foolish or be left out
Here a person conforms because it is socially rewarding or to avoid social punishment
- normative social influence is usually associated with compliance, where a person changes their public behaviour but not their private beliefs.• For example, a person may feel pressurised to smoke because the rest of their friends are. Normative Social influence tends to lead to compliance because the person smokes just for show but deep down they wish not to smoke. This means any change of behaviour is temporary.
Informational social influence
Where a person conforms because they have a desire to be right and look to others who they believe may have more/ the correct information
This type of conformity occurs when a person is unsure of a situation or lacks knowledge and is associated with internalisation
An example of this is if someone was to go to a posh restaurant for the first time, they may be confronted with several forks and not know which one to use, so they might look to a near by person to see what fork to use first.
Another example might be a fire alarm going off in a building you’ve never been in before. You follow the direction of the crowd to the nearest exit because you believe they have the right information and you want to be correct too.
postitive negative evaluation for NSI
+ research to support
ASCH in 1951
many of his participants went along with a clearly wrong answer just because other people did (see lesson 3 from all detail). so he asked them why they did this. Some of the participants said they felt self-conscious giving the correct answer and they were afraid of disapproval. When Asch repeated his study but asked participants to write down their answers instead of saying them out loud, conformity rates fell dramatically.
+ useful application in explain and reducing prejudice and it’s visible result (bullying)
- Garandeau 2006: groups w low interpersonal friendships are easily manipulated into bullying another child so providing an in group goal. Bullying serves to enhance the strength of the group ties to each other
- individual differences
• some research shows that NSI does not affect everyone’s behaviour in the same way
. For example, people who are less concerned with being liked or less affected by NSI than those who care more about being liked.
Such people are described as nAffiliators. these are people who have a greater need for affiliation - a need for being in a relationship with others.
For example , McGee and Teevan (1967) found that students high in need of affiliation were more likely to conform.
This shows that desire to be liked underlies conformity for some people more than others. Therefore there are individual differences in the way people respond.
Positive and negative evaluations for ISI
+ supporting research
• Lucas et al (2006) asked students to give answers to mathematical problems that were easy or more difficult. There was greater conformity to incorrect answers when they were difficult rather than when they were easier. This was most true for students who rated their mathematical ability as Poor. This study shows that people conform in situations where they feel they don’t know the answer, which is exactly the outcome predicted by the ISI explanation. We look to other people and assume they know better than us and must be right.
+ Fein 2007: judgement of candidate performance in the US presidential debate clearly influenced by the knowledge of others reaction (chat)
- individual differences
• as with NSI, ISI does not affect everyone’s behaviour in the same way. For example, Asch (1955) found that students were less conformist (28%) then other participants (37%). Perrin and Spencer 1980 conducted a study involving science and engineering students and found very little conformity (see lesson 3 for more detail).
Positive and negative evaluations for ISI
+ supporting research
• Lucas et al (2006) asked students to give answers to mathematical problems that were easy or more difficult. There was greater conformity to incorrect answers when they were difficult rather than when they were easier. This was most true for students who rated their mathematical ability as Poor. This study shows that people conform in situations where they feel they don’t know the answer, which is exactly the outcome predicted by the ISI explanation. We look to other people and assume they know better than us and must be right.
- individual differences
• as with NSI, ISI does not affect everyone’s behaviour in the same way. For example, Asch (1955) found that students were less conformist (28%) then other participants (37%). Perrin and Spencer 1980 conducted a study involving science and engineering students and found very little conformity (see lesson 3 for more detail).
