A03 (SI Confrom)

• State a weakness of NSI

  N: Individual differences may play a role in explaining social roles- meaning NSI doesn’t affect everyone’s behaviour.

  A: Example= Perrin & Spencer (1980) conducted Asch style experiment using engineering students from UK. Only one conforming response was observed out of around 400 trials. Due to students feeling more confident in ability to judge line lengths and felt less pressure to conform.

  E: Not all Asch’s participants conformed to wrong answer. Suggests not all people feel need to fit in, challenging NSI.
• State a strength of NSI

  N: Real-life applications which demonstrates NSI occurs beyond artificial lab settings.

  A: Schultz (2008) gathered data from hotels regarding towel reusage, found guests who received message that contained normative information about other guests reduced need for fresh towels by 25%.

  E: Shows guests had conformed to ‘fit in’ with perceived group, supporting NSI.
• State a weakness for ISI

  N: Individual difference play role explaining social influence, which means ISI doesn’t affect everyone’s behaviour.

  A: Example= Asch found students were less conformist (28%) than participants (37%), suggesting desire to be right underlies conformity for some more than others.

  E: Difference could be due to historical bias from comparing research conducted in different area, where rapid social changes emerged and norms changed.
• State a strength of ISI

  N: Jenness (1932)- research supp for ISI

  A: PPs first asked make indep judgement abt no of beans in jar, then discuss in groups before making second priv estimate- Jen found 2nd guess closer to group.

  E:Shows internalisation of group beliefs occur in unfam, ambig situ. PPs believed group guess more likely correct to own.

  C-C: Lab exper= High cont + artificial set- means low eco vali. Task is relatively trivial- no real reason not conform. Limit= not able to generalise to IRL