Types and Explanations

• What are types of conformity?

  internalization, identification, compliance
• what are explanations of conformity?

  • informational social influence
  • normative social influence
• What is compliance?

  • 'going along with others' in public, privately not changing our personal opinions/behavior
  • superficial change
  • behavior/opinion stops as soon as the group pressure stops
• What is identification?


  • conforming to a group when there's something about that group we value
  • identify with group we want to be part of
  • publicly change our opinions/behavior to achieve this , if we don't agree with everything the group stands for
• What is internalisation?

  • when a person genuinely accepts the groups norms
  • private and public change of opinion/behaviour
  • change is usually permanent - attitudes have been internalised
  • change in opinion/behaviour persists even in the absence of other group members
• What did Deutsch and Gerard (1995) do?

  • developed a two-process theory
  • argued there are two main reasons why people conform
  • ISI - need to be right
  • NSI - need to be liked
• What is informational social influence?

  • when people conform in order to be right
  • more likely to happen in situations which are new or ambiguous
  • more likely to occur in a crisis situation or when there's an expert present
• What is an example of ISI?


  not knowing the answer to a question in class. if everyone agrees on a answer you accept it because there more likely to be right
• What is normative social influence?


  • happens when people conform in order to be liked
  • people conform because they don't like to appear foolish and prefer to gain social approval rather than be rejected
• When is NSI more likely to occur?

  In situations with strangers and with people we know as we're concerned about social approval of our friends
• What did Lucas et al (2006) do?

  • A study where students were asked to give answers to easy & difficult mathematical problems
  • conformity to incorrect answers was greater for difficult mathematical problems than easier ones
  • especially true for people who said their mathematical ability was poor
  • showed people are more likely to conform in situations where they feel they don’t know the answer which demonstrates ISI. Look to other people & assume they know better & must be right
• What research support is there for NSI?

  • Asch (1951) asked participants to explain why they went along with the wrong answer and felt afraid of disapproval
  • He repeated his study but asked participants to write down their answers and conformity rates fell to 12.5%
  • Supports participants own reports that they were mainly conforming due to NSI
• Why is individual differences a limitation of ISI?

  • Asch (1955) found out that students were less conformist (28%) than other participants (37%)
  • Perrin and Spencer (1980) study involved science and engineering students and they showed very little conformity less than 1%
  • Suggests that people who are knowledgeable & far more confident are less influenced by the apparently 'right' view of the majority so there are individual differences in the way people way respond
• What is conformity?


  The tendency to change what we do (behaviour) or think and say in response to real or imagined group pressure
• What is a limitation of ISI and NSI?

  • The 'two-process' approach may be an oversimplification
  • Idea of the approach - behaviour's either due to NSI or ISI. However, more often both processes are involved, they work together
  • e.g. conformity is reduced when there's one other dissenting participant in the Asch experiment.
  • The dissenter may reduce the power of ISI as there's an alternative source of information
  • Shows it isn't always possible to be sure whenether NSI & ISI is at work.
  • Causes serious doubt over the view of NSI & ISI as operating independently in conforming behaviour
• How does Fein et al (2007) support the theory of ISI?

  • Undecided votes could be influenced by witnessing others opinions and reactions of the ability and performance of the political candidate
  • Demonstrates that in situations that an individual feels they lack knowledge, they'll look to others they consider informed for guidance and internalise information
  • Therefore, ISI is a valid explanation for internalisation
• What support is there for ISI as explanation for conformity during a difficult task?

  • Lucas et al found that students conformed more to an incorrect answer when they found the task difficult in a maths problem.
  • Strength - demonstrates link between task difficulty & conformity, specifically showing individuals will seek guidance from others in ambiguous situations in order to be right
• What evidence from field experiments supports NSI as a explanation of conformity?

  • Schutz et al (2008) - hotel guests exposed to normative message, 75% reused the towels each day, reduced own towel use by 25%
  • It's a strength as it suggests people shape behaviour via desire to fit in with reference group - will to belong to that group.
  • NSI therefore is a valid explanation for compliance
• Why is Jeness (1932) research demonstrating ISI?

  • Gave participants task with no clear answer - estimate jelly beans in jar
  • Individual estimates moved towards other estimates, they genuinely (privately) believed others estimates were correct/right
  • Participants answered in secret & didn't have to fear group disapproval.
  • Therefore individual answers reflecting group indicates they believed them to be true, looked to answer each other for information in ambiguous situation