Types of Conformity

Question 1

Who proposed the 3 types on conformity and what are they?

Answer 1

• Kelman (1958) proposed 3 main types of conformity:
  – internalisation = conforming publicly and privately leading to a permanent change
  – identification = conforming publicly because we value it leading to a semi-permanent change
  – compliance = conforming publicly but not privately to go along with others leading to a temporary superficial change

Question 2

Who proposed the 2 explanations for conformity and what are they?

Answer 2

• Deutsch and Gerard (1955) developed a two-process theory that explains the main reasons that people conform:
  – informational social influence (ISI) = the need to be right - leads to internalisation
  – normative social influence (NSI) = the need to be liked - leads to compliance

Question 3

What are 2 strengths of types and explanations of conformity?

Answer 3

• strength of research support from Asch (1951) for NSI as he states that participants felt self-conscious and that’s why they conformed - when participants wrote their answer down then conformity fell to 12.5% - reliable
• strength of research support from Lucas et al (2006) for ISI with his difficult maths problems experiment as with harder problems the participants doubted their ability more - reliable

Question 4

What are 2 limitations of types and explanations of conformity?

Answer 4

• limitation of individual differences in NSI as McGhee and Teevan (1967) found that nAffiliatiors have a stronger need to be liked so were more likely to conform - NSI affects individuals differently so lacking in generalisability
• limitation in Asch’s study when unanimity was being tested the decrease in conformity could be due to either NSI or ISI so it’s difficult to establish the difference between them - lacking validity