Conformity- types of explanations

• Conformity

  • A change in a persons behaviour or opinions as a result of real or imagined pressure from a person or group of people.
  • This change is in response to real (involving the physical presence of others) or imagined (involving the pressure of social norms) group pressure.
  • Elliott Aronson
• Compliance


  A superficial and temporary type of conformity where we go along with majority view, but privately disagree with it.

  • Individuals may go along with the group in order to gain their approval or avoid their disapproval.
  • When exposed to the views or actions of majority, individuals may engage in a process of social comparison, concentrating on what others say or do so that they can adjust their own actions to fit in with them.
• Identification

  • A moderate form of conformity where we conform to the opinions and behaviours of a group because there is something about the group we value.
  • An individual might accept influence because they want to be associated with another person or group.
  • We publicly change our opinions/behaviours to achieve this, even if we don’t privately agree with everything the group stands for.
• Internalisation

  • A deep type of conformity where a person conforms publicly and privately because they have internalised and accepted the views of the group.
  • Occurs when a person genuinely accepts the group norms
  • This results in a private as well as public change of opinions and behaviours.
  • This change is likely to become permanent as the attitudes have become a part of a the way a person thinks.
• What are the 2 explanations of conformity and who developed them?

  • Deutsch and Gerard, developed a 2 process theory, arguing that there are 2 main reasons people conform, formed on the basis of 2 needs.
  • The need to be right (informational social influence)
  • The need to be liked (normative social influence)
• Informational social influence

  • Where a person conforms because they have a desire to be right and look to others who they believe have more information.
  • Occurs when a person is unsure of a situation or lacks knowledge and is associated with internalisation.
  • e.g you might not be aware of an answer in class, whereas the rest of the class agree on one answer, you agree on that one answer because it is most likely right.
• Experiment by Jenness- Informational social influence

  • Influence of ISI on conformity
  • Guess how many jelly beans in the jar
  • Sample 101 psychology students
  • Participants had to first give an individuals estimate
  • Divided into groups of 3 and gave a group estimate.
  • After participants gave another individual estimate to see if the original answer changed.
  • Jenness found that nearly all participants changed their original answer, estimated the number of beans in a glass bottle.
  • The participants changed their answer because they believed the group estimate was more likely to be right.
• Experiment by Sherif- ISI

  • Investigated if people conform to group norms in an ambiguous situation.
  • Used the auto kinetic effect- small spot of light in a dark room will appear to move, even though it is still.
  • Participants gave their individual estimate on how far the light moved.
  • Sherif manipulated the composition of the group by putting together 2 people with similar individual estimates and one person whose estimate was very different.
  • Group converged to a common estimate, showing people tend to conform to group agreement.
• Normative social influence

  • About norms I.e what is normal and typical behaviour for a social group.
  • People do not want to appear foolish and want to gain social approval.
  • Usually associated with compliance, where a person changes their public behaviour but not their private beliefs.
  • E.g a person may feel pressurised to smoke because the rest of their friends do. The person smokes just to fit into the social group.
• NSI- Does not account for individual differences

  • For example, McGhee and Teevan found that students high in need of affiliation were more likely to conform.
  • Findings show people who are less concerned with being liked are less affected by NSI than those who care about being liked. These are people who have a greater need for affiliation. The evidence highlights that the desire to be liked forms the underlying conformity for some people more than others.
  • This suggests there are individual differences in conformity that cannot be fully explained by one explanation.
• 2 process model- Does not explain how NSI and ISI can work together

  • For example, in Asch’s experiment, conformity is reduced when there is one other dissenting participant,
  • The dissenter may reduce the power of NSI, this is because the dissenter provides social support or may reduce the power of ISI because there is an alternative source of information available.
  • This suggests that NSI and ISI may operate together in many situations so it is too simplistic to consider them as separate and independent reasons for conforming.
• Research support for ISI

  • Lucas et al asked students to give answers to mathematical problems that were easy or more difficult. Results found there was greater conformity to incorrect answers when they were more difficult rather than easier one, especially those whose mathematical ability was poor.
  • The study shows that people conform within situations where they do not know the answers. This effect was predicted by the ISI explanation which claims we turn to other people and assume they know better than us.
  • Research supports the role of ISI in conformity.
• Research support for NSI

  • Schultz ET al found that hotel guests exposed to a normative message that 75% of guests re-use their towels each day, reduced their own towel use by 25% suggesting people shape their behaviour out of a desire to fit in.
  • Findings illustrates an example of NSI. Message is trying to make guests aware of what the norm for towel use is among the other guests at the hotel. Once the guests are aware of this norm, they go along with it because it makes them feel that their behaviour is the sort of behaviour that would be approved by others.