conformity

• Conformity is when someone changes their behaviour due to an imagined pressure from the group
• individuals conform to avoid judgment and disapproval from others and to make sure they fit in
• Solomon asch: investigated reasons for conformity.

  -123 white male American participants

  -1 naive participant and 5 members of the experiment

  -asked to call out which number the line shown matched with

  results:

  -37% conformed all the time

  -75% conformed at least once

  -25% did not conform

  individuals conformed its they believed the group was right or to fit in and avoid discomfort
• Normative social influence (NSI)- people conform as they want to feel that they belong in the group and want to fit in and avoid any consequences (discomfort , disapproval etc.)
• imformative social influence (ISI): people conform as they want to be correct therefore believe the group is right and have the correct answer
• compliance is the shallowest level of conformity and is when individuals only conform with the group publically when they are present. it is likely to be linked to NSI
• identification is the middle level of conformity and is when individuals agree publicly and privately but not always. their Change in behaviour is temporal as there is some emotional investment
• internalisation is the deepest level of conformity and is when individuals agree with the group both publicly and privately. this involves a deep emotional investment and is a permanent change. it is likely to be linked to ISI
• Asch made several variation of his original experiment he changed group size, unanimity and task difficulty
• when asch changed the group size he changed the number of confederates from 1-15 and found that conformity increases with group size but only up to a certain point. with 3 confederates conformity to the wrong answer rose to 31.8 %. yet the presence of more confederates had little effect
• when asch varied the unanimity he introduced a confederate who disagreed with the other confederates. the naive participants conformed less often in the presence of a dissenter
• when asch varied the task difficulty he increased the closeness within the sizes of the lines which made it become harder for genuine participants this lead to conformity increasing
• A disagreement with the conformity theory is affiliates. This is people with a very strong personality that drives them to need to conform therefore showing a limitation.
• Asch study was not reliable as the sample was only made of white (ethnocentric) males (androcentric) which is not generalisable to the wider population
• asch exoeriment was reliable as it was a lab experiment so had high control over the variables making it replicable and therefore reliable
• asch experiment was applicable to the justic system as it benefits them to know people easily conform in a group. it also supports gabberts theory of post event discussion and how it is effected by memory conformity
• asch experiment was not entirely valid as it has low ecological validity due to the procedure being very artificial and nit representative of mundane realism. However there is some internal validity in his experiment as the method is set in a controlled manned to show conformity
• Asch experiment had ethical issues regarding deception however participants did consent and were debriefed which made it ethical
• Asch experiment did have economical implications as the conformity theory leads to less false ewt and therefore less wrong convictions and therefore less money being wasted within the justice system
• zimbardo experiment:

  -stanford university

  -basement converted to prison

  -21 white males

  -14 days
• zimbardo procedure:

  participants were psychology students who replied to advert (volunteer). tested for mental issues then taken from homes, deloused and stripped. assigned roles of prisoners and guards and zimbardo was super intendent.
• Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment found that participants quickly internalized their roles and began to exhibit extreme and abusive behaviors. The study highlighted the power of social roles and the influence of situational factors on human behavior.
• an advantage of zimbardos experiment is that it was valid as it showed what they were expecting it to in that people conform to social roles
• disadvantages of zimbardo experiments:

  -ethical issues which mean we cannot replicate and is not generalisable

  -low internal validity as some participants suffered demand characteristics and changed behaviour so response and conformity may not have been real response
• affiliators are people with a very strong personality that drives them to need to conform which shows a limitation to conformity
• Lucas et al (2006) found that when presented with difficult maths problems to solve, participants were more likely to conform to the majority answer, showing that people will conform due to the need for information (ISI).
• dissenter is an individual who disagrees with or challenges commonly held opinions, beliefs, or group norms