Conformity

• conformity

  when a person changes their behaviour or opinion as a result of real or imagined pressure from another person or group of people
• Kelman (1958) - types of conformity

  • compliance
  • identification
  • internalisation
• compliance

  • least shallow level
  • the person conforms publicly but continues to disagree privately
  • temporary change of view
  • weak acceptance of the groups views
  • they are doing it to gain approval and avoid rejection
• identification

  • sometimes conforms publicly and sometimes privately because they have identified with the group and finds a sense of membership
  • view maintained permanently in the group but not when the individual has left the group
  • conforming because they want to identify/be associated with the group
• internalisation

  • the person conforms publicly and privately because they have internalised an accepted the views of the group
  • views maintained permanently when the group and not when in the group
  • strong acceptance of the group's views
  • they conform because they genuinely accept the group's norms
• Jenness (1932)

  • jellybean experiment
  • nearly all participants changes their answer when provided with another opportunity after hearing everyone else
  • on average, male participants changed their answer by 256 beans and females by 382
• Deutsch and Gerad (1955)

  • developed a two-process theory, arguing that there are two main reasons for conformity
  • need to be right - ISI
  • need to be liked - NSI
• informational social influence

  • the desire to be right
  • when unsure about the way we should behave we look to the majority as we believe the majority is correct
  • leads to internalisation as you change you view publicly and privately
• normative social influence

  • desire to be liked
  • conform in the presence of a group because we have a desire to be liked and want to fit in, even though we may not agree
  • this generally leads to compliance as the change of view is temporary