conformity

• social psychology studies how peoples thoughts, feelings and behaviour are affected by the presence of others
• conformity occurs when an individuals behaviour and or beliefs are influenced by a large group of people known as majority influence
• kelmam made references to three types of conformity

  • compliance
  • identification
  • internalisation
• compliance- occurs when individuals adjust their behaviour and opinionsto those of a group to be accepted or avoid disapproval
• identification- occurs when individuals adjust their behaviour and opinions to those of a group, because membership of that group us desirable
• internalisation- also known as true conformity occurs when individuals genuinely adjust their behaviour and opinions to those a group
• What is the main focus of the study on group influence?

  Understanding how group influence affects opinions
• Why do individuals look to others for opinions?

  To feel confident in their beliefs
• What happens when people conform to group opinions?

  They adopt the views of the majority
• What is normative social influence?

  A motivation to be accepted by a group
• What does conformity indicate about individual beliefs?

  They may not truly agree with the majority
• What are the steps in Arthur Jenness's study on conformity?

  1. Individual private estimates made
  2. Group discussions conducted
  3. Group estimates formed
  4. Second private estimates recorded
• What was the conclusion of Jenness's study?

  Individual judgments are influenced by group opinions
• What ethical consideration was noted in Jenness's study?

  It was ethically sound with no deception
• What type of social influence did Jenness's study demonstrate?

  Informational social influence
• What was the aim of the second study on conformity?

  • To investigate conformity to a majority
  • Participants placed in groups with confederates
  • Task involved visual perception judgments
• How many trials were conducted in the second study?

  28 different trials
• What was the error rate in the control group?

  0.4% error rate
• What was the conformity rate on critical trials?

  32% conformity rate to wrong answers
• What were the three reasons for conformity found in the study?

  Distortion of action, perception, and judgment
• What conclusion was drawn about individual differences in conformity?

  There are significant individual differences
• What ethical issues were noted in the second study?

  It was time-consuming and contained deceit
• What type of social influence did the second study demonstrate?

  Normative social influence
• What are the key findings from the studies on conformity?

  • Individuals conform to group opinions
  • Conformity can be public or private
  • Majority influence affects judgments significantly
• a strength of isi is that there is research evidence supporting it

  Lucas found us students conformed more to incorrect answers on difficult math problems especially those who rated the math ability as poor

  this supports isi because it shows people conform when they believe others have better information

  the strength is the claim that isi occurs in situations of uncertainty
• a limitation of isi is that there are individual differences

  ash found that students (28) were less conformist than other participants(37)

  studies also found less conformity in students and the study it was engineering students they were confident about precision

  people who are knowledgeable and or more confident unless influenced by the right view of a majority
• a strength of NSI is that there is research support

  ash as participants to explain why they agreed with the wrong answer some said they felt self-conscious giving the right answer and were afraid of disapproval

  when ash participants were asked to write down the answers conformity rates fell to 12.5%

  the supports the participants own reports that they were conforming because of NSI
• limitation of nsi are facts people differently

  people who care more about being liked a more affected by NSI they are nafilators people who have a greater need for social relationships

  this indicates the desire for approval various meaning NSI doesn't apply equally to everyone

  dishes in a side doesn't cover the fact that there are differences
• limitation is the aschs findings may not apply all the time

  studies found only one conforming response in 396 trials with UK engineering students they felt more confident measuring lines rather than original participants so they were less conformist

  conformity may have been higher in the 1950s America because those are a more conformist society

  the asch effect is not consistent and might not apply to different cultures or time periods
• limitation is that aschs study was artificial

  the line task was trivial and participants knew they were in a study so I might have responded to the demand characteristics

  this means the results might not reflect real world behavior

  therefore the findings moon apply to everyday life
• another limitation is that asch's findings may only apply to certain situations

  participants answered out loud and were with strangers they wanted to impress William and sogon found conformity was higher with friends

  the shows that can form with t levels depend on the group and social context

  therefore the aschs effect varies in different circumstances
• a final limitation is aschs study raises ethical concerns

  naive participants were deceived into thinking that confederates were genuine

  will there deceptional card the study revealed important findings about conformity and its influencing factors

  this highlights that the benefits of the research needs to be balanced against this ethical costs