conformity: types and explanations

• types of conformity

  • Kelman identified 3 types of conformity:
  • internalisation
  • identification
  • compliance
• internalisation

  • 'think the group is right'
  • when a person genuinely accepts group norms - results in a private as well as public change of opinions/behaviour
  • the change is usually permanent and persists in the absence of group members because attitudes have become part of how the person thinks (internalised)
  • example = becoming wholly involved in the norms of a group (eg political or religious)
• identification

  • 'value the group'
  • when we identify with a group that we value, we want to become a part of it
  • we publicly change our opinions/behaviours, even if we don't privately agree with everything the group stands for
  • example = dressing in the same style as a group of people at college
• compliance

  • 'temporary agreement'
  • involves 'going along with others' in public, but privately not changing opinions/behaviour
  • results in only a superficial change and the opinion/behaviour stops as soon as group pressure ceases
  • example = eating only vegetarian food with a particular group of friends, but continuing to eat meat when the group is not present
• explanations for conformity

  • informational social influence (ISI)
  • normative social influence (NSI)
  • Deutsch and Gerard = brought ISI and NSI together in their two-process theory of social influence. they argued that people conform because of two basic human needs: the need to be right (ISI) and the need to be liked (NSI)
• informational social influence(ISI)

  • 'a desire to be right and occurs in situations that are ambiguous'
  • example = not knowing the answer to a question in class, but if majority of your class give the answer, you go along wit them because you feel they are probably right
  • ISI is a cognitive process - people generally want to be right. it leads to internalisation
  • it is most likely in situations which are new or where there is some ambiguity (so isn't clear what is right), may happen when decisions have to be made quickly
• normative social influence (NSI)

  • 'about norms, a desire to behave like others and not look foolish, occurs in unfamiliar situations and with people you know'
  • emotional rather than cognitive process - people prefer social approval rather than rejection. NSI leads to compliance
  • most likely in situations where you don't know the norms and look to others about how to behave
  • may be pronounced in stressful situations where people have a need for social support
• strength for NSI = research support

  • asch found many pps conformed rather than give the correct answer because they were afraid of disapproval
  • when pps wrote down answer (no normative pressure) conformity fell to 12.5%
  • shows that at least some of conformity is due to a desire not to be rejected by the group for disagreeing with them
• strength for ISI = research support

  • Lucas et al = found pps conformed more to incorrect answers when maths problems were difficult (with easy problems, pps 'knew their own minds')
  • for hard problems the situation was ambiguous (unclear) so they relied on the answers they were given
  • supports ISI because the result are what ISI predicted
• counterpoint

  • its unclear if NSI or ISI operate in studies and real life
  • a dissenter may reduce the power of NSI (social support) or reduce the power of ISI (alternative source)
  • => ISI and NSI are hard to separate or operate together in most real-world situations
• limitation for NSI = individual differences

  • nAffiliators = have a strong need for 'affiliation' (need to relate to other people)
  • mcghee and teevan = students who were Naffiliators were more likely to conform
  • shows NSI underlies conformity for some people more than others - an individual difference not explained by a theory of situational pressure
• is NSI/ISI distinction useful(evaluation extra)

  • Lucas et al study = NSI/ISI distinction may not be useful because it is impossible to work out which is operating
  • BUT = Asch's research supports both NSI (disapproval of a unanimous group strongly motivates conformity) and ISI (you assume the unanimous group knows better than you)
  • => both concepts are useful because they can be identified and used to explain the reasons for conformity in studies and real-world situations