Conformity

• what is conformity?

  a type of social influence where an individual/s yield to group pressure, either real or imagined.
• what can conformity result in?

  a change in a persons behaviour, beliefs or both.
• what are group norms?

  the informational rules that groups adapt to regulate group members' behaviour.
• who was one of the first studies into conformity?

  Sherif (1936).
• what was measured in Sherifs study?

  individual and group judgements in an ambiguous situation
• what was Sherifs technique in his study?

  due to autokinetic effect (an optical illusion that causes a stationary object to appear to move), in a dark room without any external frame of reference, a stationary point of light appears to move, participants were first asked to estimate how far the light moved alone, and then again as a member of a group.
• what were Sherifs findings of individuals on his study?

  individulas established a personal norm that guided their judgements about how far the light was moving. everyone had their own estimate of distance based on his personal experience.
• what was Sherifs question for his study?

  would everyones judgments become more similar when making estimates as a group?
• what were Sherifs findings as a group for his study?

  the group formed a new estimate of how far the light was moving that was unique to the group and different from the judgement of everyone. over time the group agreed on how far the light moved, even though the light never actually moved at all.
• how can the strength and persistance of group norms be shown?

  Rohrer et al (1954) used Sherifs method and found that group answers formed in the experiment persisted even up to a year after the experiment had taken place and even though the group no longer existed.
• what type of conformity does Sherifs experiment show?

  internalisation
• what is internalisation?

  this occurs when there is a true change of private beliefs to match those of the group. therefore the beliefs and norms of a group are internalised by an individual, and subsequently become part of the individuals' own belief system
• what is identification?

  here a person accepts the norms of a group both privately and publicly because he or she values membership of that group. an individual will conform due to a social rule they have within a given social setting. this does not necessarily have an impact upon the individuals internal personal view or opinion.
• what is compliance?

  an individual may agree with a group but may privately disagree.
• why was the zimbardo experiment commisioned?


  to look at the psychological effects of prison life and to see if the bruitality often found in american jails was a concequence of certain personality traits of prison guards or of the role to which they were assigned.
• how many participants were in the zimbardo experiment?

  24 volunteer male students.
• what was the mental and physical state of the participants in the zimbardo experiment?


  only the most stable were seletcted.
• what was the allocation to roles in the zimbardo experiment?


  random allocation to either a 'prisoner' or a 'guard' role.
• what was the clothing in the zimbardo experiment?


  guards were given uniforms and night sticks. prisoners dressed in smocks and referred to by number.
• what were the instructions to the guards during the zimbardo experiment?


  keep prisoners under control without using physical violence.
• what was the behaviour of the guards like during the zimbarbo experiment?


  escelating punishments, including humiliation, sleep deprivation and even force feeding.
• how long was the zimbardo experiment?


  6 days (out of the proposed 2 weeks).
• what were the findings in the zimbardo experiment?


  situations enforce conformity as those assigned to the role of guard abused their power and behaved violently, despite being selected for their stability and knowing that it was an experiment.
• what did one guard state after the zimbardo experiment?


  "i was suprised at myself. i made them call eachother names and clean the toilet out with their bare hands. i practically considered the prisoners cattle and kept thinking i had to watch out for them incase they tried something."
• what did another guard state after the zimbardo experiment?


  "acting authoritatively can be fun. power can be a great pleasure."
• what did another guard state after the zimbardo experiment?


  "during the inspection i went to cell two to mess up a bed which a prisoner had just made and he grabbed me, screaming that he just made it and that he was not going to let me mess it up. he grabbed me by the throat and although he was laughing, i was scared. i lashed out with my stick and hit him on the chin although not very hard, and when i freed myself i became angry"