Conformity

• Conformity - 'Changes in an individuals behaviours and / or beliefs because of real or imagined group pressure'
• Compliance

  The most superficial and least permanent. Individuals publicly change their beliefs and behaviours to be in line with a group and fit in, but revert back in private when group pressure stops. Normative social influence.
• Identification

  A stronger type of conformity, involving possible private as well as public acceptance. An individual looks to a group for guidance and adjust their behaviour and belief systems because a membership within the group is desirable. When the group is no longer desirable the individual reverts back.
• Internalisation

  The deepest and most permanent change in attitude. Publicly and privately change behaviours and belief systems to go along with group norms, we accept their attitudes into our own cognitions. Informational social influence.
• Informational social influence (ISI)

  Driven by the desire to be right. When an individual is unsure about how to behave, they conform by seeking information about how to behave and assume it is right. This is a cognitive process, leading to internalisation.
• Normative social influence (NSI)

  Driven by our desire to be liked. An individual will go along with a groups behaviour in order to avoid ridicule, gain acceptance and fit in. This is an emotional process, leading to compliance.
• Explanations of conformity AO3

  :) RTS ISI - Jenness

  :( CA - Jenness - lacks ecological validity (lab)

  :) RTS NSI - Asch

  :( RTS - Asch - gender bias - Neto 1995
• Asch research - Procedure

  123 American male students

  Placed into groups with 7-9 confederates

  Asked to say which line (A, B or C) was same length as standard line (X) - ppts last or second to last to answer

  12/18 confederates gave identical wrong answers

  Control group of 36 tested without confederates
• Asch research - Findings and Conclusions

  Real ppts gave the wrong answer 37 % of the time when a confederate was present

  Post-experiment interviews found most ppts conformed publicly not privately - wanted to avoid ridicule

  Supporting NSI as ppts conformed in order to be accepted by the group.
• Variables affecting conformity - group size

  Conformity rates increase as the size of a majority group increases, however the size of the group stops having an impact once the group reaches a certain size.

  One confederate and one real ppt - 3 %

  Two confederates and one real ppt - 13 %

  Three confederates and one real ppt - 32 %

  Conformity plateaued after this - size of majority has an impact but only to a certain point.
• Variables affecting conformity - Unanimity

  Complete agreement from a group of people

  Original study - all confederates gave the same wrong answer and conformity was 37 %

  When study varied and one confederate gave the correct answer throughout the research, conformity dropped to 5.5 %

  'Lone' confederate gave a completely different answer and conformity dropped to 9 %

  Concluded that when a dissenter breaks the groups unanimous position conformity decreases.
• Variables affecting conformity - Task difficulty

  In one variation Asch made the stimulus line and comparison lines more similar so the correct answer was less obvious and the task was harder. When difficulty increases so did conformity rates

  As the right answer becomes less obvious, we lose confidence in our own ability and are more likely to conform.
• Variables affecting conformity AO3

  :) RTS - Task difficulty - Lucas et al

  :( CA - Lucas et al - conformity more complex - individual factors

  :( Gender bias - Neto 1995

  :( Culture bias
• Conformity to social roles - Parts people play in society eg - teachers and students. These are accompanied by expectations that we have of what is appropriate in each role, these are internalised so shape our behaviour.
• Zimbardo - part 1

  Aim - To investigate how freely people would conform to the roles as a guard and prisoner in a role playing exercise that recreated prison life.

  Sample - 24 emotionally stable US male university students

  Procedure - randomly allocated to prisoner or guard

  Prisoners - arrested at their homes, taken to prison, searched and dressed in smock uniforms - given numbers

  Guards - given uniform, mirrored glasses, keep prisoners under control but use no physical violence - created a loss of personal identity

  Zimbardo acted as a prison officer
• Zimbardo - part 2

  Findings - within a day prisoners rebelled by ripping off numbers - guards responded by locking them in cells and confiscating their blankets

  The guards punishments escalated, prisoners were humiliated and sleep deprived.

  Identification was noticeable as prisoners referred to each other as their numbers rather then names.

  Prisoners became rapidly subdued and depressed , 3 were released due to psychological disturbance.

  Experiment called off after 6 days.
• Zimbardo - part 3

  Conclusions - Guards, prisoners and researchers conformed to their role within the prison

  Social roles have extraordinary power over individuals, making even the most well-adjusted capable of extreme brutality towards each other.
• Zimbardo AO3

  :) High control over extraneous variables

  :( Gender bias

  :( Major ethical issues

  :( Prone to demand characteristics