Types and Explanations for conformity

Question 1

Define conformity

Answer 1

• choose to go along with majority (majority influence)

Question 2

What does a person change to conform?

Answer 2

• behaviours
• attitudes
• values

Question 3

Name all 3 types of types of conformity

Answer 3

• compliance
• internalisation
• identification

Question 4

outline compliance

Answer 4

• individuals go along with group to gain approval and disproval
• fitting in seen as desirable
• does not result in any change in person’s underlying attitude - only the views/behaviour they express in public

Question 5

is compliance a weak or strong type of conformity and why?

Answer 5

• weakest form
• soon as majority stops monitoring, behaviour stops
• private behaviour does not change, only public

Question 6

outline internalisation

Answer 6

• go along with group because of acceptance of their views
• when exposed to other views of members group, undergo validation process, examining their own beliefs if they’re right/wrong
• close examination of groups position may convince individual that they’re wrong + group is right
• accept groups views privately and publicly

Question 7

is internalisation a weak or strong type of conformity and why?

Answer 7

• deep permanent type of conformity
• beliefs and opinions mirror majority
• private/public behaviour changed

Question 8

outline identification

Answer 8

• want to be apart of group
• adopt attitudes/behaviours to feel apart of group
• has both internalisation and compliance (accepts views as right to fit in)

Question 9

why do people conform?

Answer 9

• to fit in
• to be right

Question 10

What are the two explanations of conformity?

Answer 10

• informative social influence
• normative social influence

Question 11

What is NSI?

Answer 11

• going along with majority to gain approval
• to ‘fit in’
• emotive process (avoid feeling rejection)
• usually occurs with friends/strangers

Question 12

What is NSI more likely to lead to?

Answer 12

Compliance

Question 13

What is ISI?

Answer 13

• going along with majority because we feel like they’re correct
• most likely to occur in ambiguous situations where there is no clear answer

Question 14

What is ISI more likely to lead to?

Answer 14

internalisation/identification

Question 15

A03 complicated relationship between compliance, identification/internalisation is because we don’t know when which is taking placel

Answer 15

• relationship between them is complicated because of the difficulties in knowing when each is taking place.
• argument that compliance is when individual agrees in public to avoid unfavourable reaction but disagrees in private.
• However, there are other reasons for why agreement may disappear in private but is still regarded as internalisation/identification, e.g. they have forgotten info given by group because they received new info that changed their mind
• so to distinguish between compliance and internalisation is not as simple as just establishing if they do/don’t agree in private or public
• This demonstrates the difficulty in determining what is, and what is not, simple compliance rather than internalisation.

Question 16

A03 Strength - research to support NSI

Answer 16

• One strength is that there is research to support NSI.
• For example, Linkenback and Perkins found adolescence exposed to the simple message that the majority of their age peers did not smoke were less likely to take up smoking
• This shows that people shape their behaviour out of desire to fit in, and this demonstrates the power of normative influence

Question 17

A03 Strength - research to support ISI

Answer 17

• One strength is that there is….
• Lucas et al asked students to give answers to mathematical problems that were easy or more difficult
• There was greater conformity to incorrect answers when they were more difficult rather than when they were easier ones.
• This was most true for students who rated their maths skills as poor
• Study shows that people conform in situations where they do not know the answer, which is the outcome predicted by the ISI explanation.
• We look to other people and assume that they know better than us and must be right
• This therefore supports the ISI as an explanation for conformity

Question 18

A03 Limitation for NSI : does not affect everyone’s behaviour

Answer 18

• one limitation of NSI as an explanation for conformity is that it does not affect everyone’s behaviour in the same way
• For example, people who are less concerned about being liked are less affected by NSI than those who care about being liked
• The latter are called ‘naffiliators’
• These people have greater need for affiliation - a need for being in a relationship with others
• For example, McGhee and Teevan found that students in high need for affiliation were more likely to conform
• Shows that the desire to be liked underlies conformity for some people more than others
• Therefore, individual differences in the way people respond and NSI cannot be applied to explain conformity at all