Conformity

• what are the three types of conformity?

  internalisation, identification, compliance.
• what is internalisation?

  privately and publicly conforming, genuinely believing the views of the majority.
• what is conformity?

  compliance with or adherence to certain standards, rules or norms.
• what are two explanations for conformity?

  normative and informational social influence.
• what is informational social influence?

  agreeing with the opinion of the majority because they have the better information and we believe it to be correct, accepting it because we also want to be correct. this can lead to internalisation.
• what is normative social influence?

  agreeing with the opinion of the majority because we want to gain social approval and be liked. this can lead to compliance.
• what are three factors affecting conformity?

  group size, unanimity, and task difficulty.
• how does group size affect conformity?

  more likely to conform if the number or people believing something is large.
• how does unanimity affect conformity?

  uniformity increases conformity, disputes and conflicting opinions decrease it.
• how does task difficulty affect conformity?

  difficulty increases conformity.
• when did Asch conduct his experiment?

  1956
• what was Asch's experiment?

  - 50 male American students volunteered for a vision test.- Each participant was placed with 7 undercover confederates (who had agreed to answer with the same wrong line) and shown a target line followed by three others of varying sizes. - They were asked which line matched the target line, and their answers were recorded. - Each participant did 18 trials.
• what were Aschs results?

  • participants conformed on 32% of trials• 74% conformed at least once• 26% never conformed
• what other experiments did Asch conduct?

  same set up but the IV is now how many confederates.
• what were the results of Aschs other experiment?


  • 1 confederate = 0% conformity• 2 confederate = 13%• 3+ confederates = 32% meta analysis = 133 studies from 17 countries shows conformity doesnt increase past 4/5 confederates.
• what is compliance?

  a superficial change caused by group pressure, going along with the majority despite disagreeing with their views.
• what is identification?

  publicly conforming to what's expected of you to fulfil a social role or imitate a role model.
• What is a social group?

  2+ people who interact, sharing a common identity e.g. a sports team or band.
• What are social norms?


  the unwritten rules for how all the members in the social group are expected to behave.
• What are social roles?

  the behaviours expected of a person in a particular position within a social group.
• What are the strengths of aschs research?

  One strength of this study the use of laboratory conditions. Through this a high degree of control over extraneous variables ensures they cannot confound the results allowing a cause and effect relationship to be established. Furthermore the standardisation of variables means variables can be measured accurately, increasing the internal reliability which in turn increases the external reliability as it can be easily replicated.
• What are the weaknesses of aschs research?

  data collected may lack ecological validity as artificial conditions do not reflect real world scenarios questioning the generalisability of the results. there is a high risk of demand characteristics as participants may alter their behaviour based on their interpretation of the purpose of the experiment. In order to provide a comprehensive explanation for conformity a more diverse sample size was needed e.g. gender, age, and culture to ensure the results can be generalised to society as a whole rather than American male students for example America is an individualist country (where conformity is less common) so results could differ in collectivist cultures like Asia. volunteer sampling has weaknesses as particular personalities may be more inclined to volunteer.
• When was zimbardos experiment


  1971
• What was zimbardos aim?

  Zimbardo investigated weather prison brutality is due to disposition or confomity via identification to social roles.
• Describe the Stanford prison experiment.


  The experiment was funded by the US office of naval research, taking place in a mock prison in the basement of Stanford university in 1971. • 24 volunteers who had replied to a newspaper article advertising a "psychological study of prison life" offering $15 daily, were screened and deemed mental and physically healthy. • They were then randomly divided in half to be assigned prisoners and guards. • The prisoners were arrested and blindfolded, then strip searched before given a "dress" uniform with an ankle lock and chain. During the experiment they were subjected to indignities e.g. cleaning toilets bare handed. • the guards were given sunglasses and uniform, with their only order being to not physically abuse the prisoners. • on the first day nothing happened however that quickly escalated as on the second day a rebellion was staged due to the harsh punishment system the guards had quickly adopted. • within the first 4 days, 3 prisoners had to be released due to the cruel and dehumanising abuse they had endured. • it was observed that there was a clear authority figure created within the guards - John Wayne who was "creative in his evil", and very little support within the prisoners. • the mistreatment of the prisoners was so unethical and abusive that due to the persuasion of zimbardos girlfriend, the 2 week long experiment was terminated after only 6 days.
• What are the strengths of Zimbardos study?


  One strength of this study is its contribution to psychology. The results were unexpected and show us a more in-depth detail into conformity and obedience, and since laboratory conditions were used, a high degree of control over extraneous variables ensures they cannot confound the results allowing a cause and effect relationship to be established, e.g. the mental screening to ensure dispositional factors like poorer mental health did not effect the study. Furthermore the standardisation of variables means they can be measured accurately, increasing the internal reliability which in turn increases the external reliability as it can be easily replicated.
• What are the weaknesses of zimbardos study?

  However, due to its extreme unethical nature, replicating this study would not be approved by the BPS. Not only were the participants mentally and physically abused, there was no informed consent as participants did not know what they were signing up for, zimbardo argued this with the concept that deception is necessary to obtain reliable results however for this to be accepted participants need to be informed of their right to withdraw which was not the case with this experiment. Additionally the use of inducement has criticisms in psychological experiments as it discourages participants from withdrawing as they feel since they have been paid they are obligated to continue further increasing the unethicality of this experiment. Another criticism of zimbardos experiment is the high risk of demand characteristics as participants may alter their behaviour based on their interpretation of the purpose of the experiment. For example John Wayne admitted to emphasising his behaviour for the purpose of the experiment, modelling the warden in the movie "cool hand Luke". Furthermore experimenter bias can been seen through zimbardo as he actively involved himself in the experiment as superintendent. This blurred his lines between science and make believe, reducing the research's scientific credibility. Finally, zimbardos experiment had a limited sample size. In order to provide a comprehensive explanation for conformity a more diverse sample was needed e.g. gender, age, and culture to ensure the results can be generalised to society as a whole rather than American male students, for example America is an individualist country (where conformity is less common) so results could differ in collectivist cultures like Asia. Furthermore, volunteer sampling has weaknesses as particular dispositions may be more inclined to volunteer especially since the advertisement of "prison study" can influence the type of participants who volunteer.