Explanations of conformity

• Who put this forward

  Deutsch and Gerard
• What does NSI stand for

  Normative Socoal influence
• What is NSI

  • People want to get approval and avoid disapproval
  • They want a reward and don’t want to be punished
• What type of conformity does NSI lead to

  Compliance
• What does ISI stand for

  Informational social influence
• What is ISI

  • They don’t know what to do so they look to others for answers
  • Uncertain and look to the group for answers
  • They genuinely think the group is right and go along with the group
  • The need to be right
• What type of conformity does ISI lead to

  Internalisation
• What is the research support for ISI

  • Lucas - students gave answers to math problems that were easy and hard
  • Found that there was greater conformity to incorrect answers to questions that were difficult
• What is the research support for NSI

  • Asch - Found that many pps went along with a clearly wrong answer just because others did
  • When asked why the pps said that they felt self conscious giving correct answers
  • Afraid of disapproval
• What is another limitation

  Individial difference:

  • Don’t affect people in the same way
  • Perrin and Spencer - conducted Asch like experiment
  • Used engineer students for UK
  • 1/400 trials conformed - could be due to confident in their ability due to engineering experience
  • Could also be due to historical bias - compared research that had happened 30 years previously where rapid social changes have emerged