Conformity

• What is conformity?

  Yielding to group pressure.
• What is the other name for conformity?

  Majority influence.
• What is the weakest form of conformity?

  Compliance.
• What is compliance?

  When an individual changes their behaviour in public, but not in private.
• What is the middle level of conformity?

  Identification.
• What is identification?

  When an individual changes their behaviour in public in an effort to be accepted by a group they want to be in.
• What is the highest level of conformity?

  Internalisation.
• What is internalisation?

  When an individual changes their behaviour or view to that of others in the group, in public and in private.
• What are the three types of conformity?

  Compliance, identification and internalisation.
• What are the explanations for conformity?

  ISI and NSI.
• What is ISI?

  Information social influence - desire to be right.
• When is ISI most likely to occur?

  Unfamiliar/ambiguous situations.
• Describe how the Jenness Jelly bean study supports ISI?

  Individuals privately estimated number of beans in the jar, then had a group discussion with a group estimate, then made a second private estimate. Second estimates moved closer to the group estimate suggesting ISI (can’t be NSI as second estimate was private).
• What is NSI?

  Desire to be liked/accepted by a group.
• Which famous study demonstrated the existence of NSI?

  Asch's line study.
• What was Asch's sample?

  123 American male students.
• What are the issues with Asch's sample?

  Small, ethnocentric, androcentric, volunteer type.
• What was Asch's procedure?

  Group of 7-9 confederates, 1 participant, Match a standard line to A,B or C, 12/18 trials were critical, Real participant answered second last or last, Task was unambiguous (mistake baseline was 0.7%)
• How many participants conformed at least once in Asch's study?

  75%.
• What was the overall % for conformity across all trials in Asch's study?

  36.8%
• In the control group of Asch's study how many participants never conformed?

  95%
• What were the post interview findings of Asch's study?

  Participants reported conforming out of a desire to not be rejected. (NSI)
• Name the three factors Asch showed effected conformity?

  Group size, unanimity, task difficulty.
• What minimum size group is required to increase the chances of conformity?

  3
• What happened to conformity rates once Asch increased the group size above 3?

  Little change.
• What effect does unanimity have on conformity?

  When a group is not unanimous, conformity rates decrease.
• What effect does task difficulty have on conformity?

  When a task is more difficult, conformity rates increase.
• How did Asch explain the increase in conformity when a task became more difficult?

  Participants conformed out of a desire to be right.
• How did Asch increase task difficulty in this variation of his experiment?

  Made the lines look more similar in length.
• Define what is meant by situational variables affecting conformity?

  Features of an environment that affect the degree to which individuals yield to group pressure.
• Explain what a social role is?

  An individual plays as a member of a social group, where their behaviour will meet the expectations of that situation.
• Which study demonstrated conformity to social roles?

  Haney et al, Stanford Prison Experiment (Zimbardo)
• What was Zimbardo trying to study?

  The extent to which people conform to roles of prisoner/guard in a simulated prison – testing if it is disposition or situation that causes ‘evil’ behaviour.
• What was Zimbardo’s sample?

  75 male university student volunteers, paid $15 a day (assessed as emotionally stable).
• What was wrong with Zimbardo’s

  sample?

  Small, androcentric, ethnocentric, same age, volunteers.
• Where was the SPE experimental

  prison created?

  Psychology basement at Stanford.
• How were the roles assigned in the

  SPE?

  Randomly.
• How were the prisoners

  deindividuated in the SPE?

  Uniform, number
• How were the guards aided into

  their social role in the SPE?

  Uniform, dark reflective glasses, billy clubs
• What happened with the social roles

  of the guards and prisoners in the

  SPE?

  Settled quickly, prisoners became steadily more depressed, guards increasingly brutal.