Social Influence

• What is conformity according to Aronson 2011?


  It is the change in a person's behaviours/opinions from a real or imagined pressure from a person or group
• What are the types of conformity and who suggested these?


  Herbert Kelman (1958):

  • Internalisation
  • Identification
  • Compliance
• What is internalisation?


  It the process of a person's private views changing to match the public group view until these new attitudes and behaviours become part of the person's value system.

  PERMANENT CHANGE
• What is identification?


  It is when a person conforms to the opinions and behaviours of a group whilst being in that group because they value a part of the group and want to meet expectations.

  Based on INFORMATION

  TEMPORARY CHANGE
• What is compliance?


  It is the superficial agreement with the majority of public opinions and behaviour to avoid disapproval even if the person's own private opinion is different.

  TEMPORARY CHANGE
• What are the explanations for conformity?


  Deutsch and Gerard 1955 said that it was a two-process theory which meant that there were 2 main reasons to conform:

  • The need to be right -> Informational Social Influence
  • The need to be liked -> Normative Social Influence
• What is ISI?


  • Need to be right
  • Cognitive process that is more popularly used in new situations
• What is NSI?

  • The need to be liked -> all about social norms
  • It is an emotional process -> it is more likely to happen when trying to impress strangers