Explanations for conformity

• Normative social influence

  1)Occurs when people conform so as to be part of the majority and not stand out. (Need to be liked/accepted)

  2) often results in compliance or superficial change in behaviour
• Informational social influence

  1. Tends to take place when individual is unsure or lacks knowledge and a situation is ambiguous

  you carry out the behaviour of the majority because you are unsure of what you are doing yourself. Due to the ambiguity of the situation, one is more likely to have their own core values manipulated and this can lead to internalisation.
• Research support for normative influence

  There is research support for the idea of normative social influence. For example, Asch conducted a study where a group of confederates would clearly answer the question as to ‘what line matches the example’. 33% of the participants conformed to the obviously wrong answer. It can be assumed that the participants changed their answers in order to be accepted by the majority group, thus showing normative social influence. The fact that Asch’s findings support the idea of normative social influence suggests that this explanation of conformity can be seen to be reliable.
• Research support for Informational social influence

  In terms of informational social influence, there is also research support. For example, Wittenbrink and Henley found that participants exposed to negative information about African Americans later reported more negative beliefs about a black individual. This can be seen as informational social influence as participants were taking the negative beliefs as evidence of reality. The cause and effect between the exposure to the information and the subsequent beliefs means that informational social influence as a form of conformity can be seen to be valid