Types Of Conformity And Explanations For Conformity Flashcards
When is an individual said to have conformed?
If they chose a course of action that is favoured by the majority of other group members
Who propose three types of conformity and what are they?
Kelman (1958) proposed the three types
Compliance, internalisation, identification
What motivates conformity?
Fitting in
Within compliance, why may individuals go along with the group?
To gain their approval or avoid disapproval
When exposed to the veiws or actions of the majority, individuals may engage in what and why?
•A process of social comparison, concentrating on what others say or do
•So they can adjust their own actions to fit in with them
Is compliance affecting public, private or both views?
Compliance does not result in any chabge in the person’s underlying attitude, only in the views and behaviours they express in public
Why might individuals go along with the group in internalisation?
Because of an acceptance of their views
In internalisation, when exposed to the views of other members of the group what are individuals encourage to do?
Engage in a validation process, examining their own beliefs to see if they or the others are right
What makes it more likely that the individual will be convinced that they are wrong and the group is right in internalisation?
If the group is generally trustworthy in their views
If the individual has tended to go along with them on previous occassions
Is internalisation affecting public, private or both views?
Both public and provate acceptance of the group’s point of view
Identfication is when a person _____ because ____
Identification is when a person adopts a group’s attitudes and behaviours because they want to be associated with the group
Identification has elements of both compliance and internalisation, how?
• As the individual accepts the attitudes and behaviours they are adopting them as right (internalisation)
• The purpose of adopting them is to be accepted as a member of a group
• e.g. a teen may start smoking because ‘cools kids do’ and they want to be ‘cool’
What are the two explanations of conformity?
Normative social influence, informative social influence
What is normative social influence?
When a person goes along with the majority without accepting their view as they want to avoid rejection
What is an important condition for social influence to occur?
The individual must believe that they are under serveillance by the group
What does normative social influence mean in relation to the individual’s own beliefs?
• Do not internalise the group’s view
• It does not carry over into private settings
• It does not endure over time
What is informative social influence?
When an individual accepts information from others as evidence about reality
When is informational influence more likely?
• If the situation is ambiguous
• If the others are experts
What does informational social influence mean in terms of internalisation?
• Is an example of internalisation
• As it involves changing both public and private attitudes and behaviour
What research supports normative influence?
•US research has supported the important role played by people’s normative beliefs in shaping behaviours such as smoking and energy conservation
•This supports the claim that people shape their behaviour to fit in with their reference group
What research supports informational influence?
• Studies have demonstrated how exposure to other people’s beliefs and opinions can shape many aspects of social behaviour and beliefs
- Such as political opinion
What research suggests that normative influence may not be detected?
• Although normative influence undoubtedly has a powerful effect on the behaviour of the individual it is possible that they do not recognise the behaviour of others as a factor in their own
• This suggests that people rely on beliefs about what should motivate their behaviours
What research suggests that informational influence is moderated by type of task?
• The features of the task moderate the impact of majority influence
- Some have a clear physical criteria to validate the judgements, some do not and therefore have no way to validate
Why is it difficult to distinguish between compliance and internalisation?
• If a person accepts the group’s views publically and not in private then it is assumed as Compliance
- However, the view could be accepted in public but later dissipated in private as they might have recieved new information that changed their opinion
