Conformity

• What are the three types of conformity mentioned?

  Compliance, identification, and internalisation
• What is conformity?

  Conformity involves changing behaviors to fit in with a group
• What is majority influence in conformity?

  Majority influence refers to the tendency to conform to larger groups
• What is compliance in terms of conformity?

  Compliance is publicly agreeing with the group but privately disagreeing
• Give an example of compliance.


  Eating vegetarian food with friends but eating meat alone
• Why is compliance considered the weakest type of conformity?

  Because it involves only surface change and stops when not in the group
• What is identification in conformity?

  Identification involves temporarily adopting group behaviors to fit in
• Provide an example of identification.


  Dressing like a group of peers at college
• What is internalisation in conformity?

  Internalisation is accepting group norms both publicly and privately
• Give an example of internalisation.


  Changing personal style and beliefs to align with a new college group
• What are the two motivations for conformity?

  Normative social influence and informational social influence
• What does normative social influence (NSI) involve?

  NSI involves the need to be liked and accepted by the group
• Provide an example of normative social influence.


  Going to church weekly because the group does
• What is informational social influence (ISI)?

  ISI occurs when individuals look to the group for guidance in uncertain situations
• Give an example of informational social influence.


  Looking to others for cues on behavior during the first day at work
• What is a strength of informational social influence?

  It has good research support, such as Jenness's bean jar study
• What did Schultz et al. (2008) find regarding normative social influence?


  Guests reused towels more when informed that 75% of others did
• What is a limitation of the explanations for conformity?

  They do not explain why some resist both NSI and ISI
• What was the focus of Asch's study of conformity?

  To investigate the extent of group pressure on individual responses
• What was the sample used in Asch's study?

  123 male students from the USA
• What was the task given to participants in Asch's study?

  To identify which line matched the length of another line
• How many trials were conducted in Asch's study?

  18 trials per group
• What percentage of wrong answers did participants give on critical trials?

  36.8% of the critical trials
• What conclusion did Asch draw from his study?

  People conform to the majority even in unambiguous situations
• What is a strength of Asch's study?

  It used a standardised procedure for high reliability
• What cultural differences were found in Asch's study replications?

  Higher rates of conformity were found in collectivist cultures
• What is a limitation regarding the temporal validity of Asch's study?

  It was conducted in the 1940s/50s when conformity was higher
• What potential issue did participants face in Asch's study?

  Some may have guessed the aim of the study due to its simplicity
• What does a standardized procedure in a study mean?

  It means that the study can be replicated many times over.
• Why is high reliability important in research?

  Because repeated replications should show consistent results.
• What did replications of Asch's study identify?

  Cross-cultural differences in conformity.
• What is linked to group cohesion according to the study?

  Conformity.
• Which cultures showed the highest rates of conformity in Asch's study?

  Collectivist cultures.
• What do collectivist cultures value more than individual needs?

  The needs of the group.
• Why is Asch’s research considered a 'child of its time'?

  Because it took place in the 1940s/50s when conformity was arguably higher.
• What does the term 'temporal validity' refer to?

  The relevance of a study's findings over time.
• What might some participants have guessed during Asch's study?

  The aim of the study due to the easiness of the task.
• What is known as response bias?

  When participants go along with giving the wrong answer because they think it's required.
• How does response bias affect the validity of findings?

  It reduces the validity of the findings.
• What variable did Asch test regarding group size?

  How conformity changes depending on the condition.