Explanations for conformity

• What are the three types of conformity?

  Compliance, identification, and internalisation
• What is normative social influence?

  Conforming to fit in and avoid exclusion
• Why do people conform due to normative social influence?

  To gain social rewards or avoid punishment
• How is normative social influence associated with compliance?

  It changes public behavior, not private beliefs
• What does it mean when a change of behavior is temporary in normative social influence?

  Behavior changes only for social acceptance
• Which study is referenced for normative social influence?

  Asch's study
• What is informational social influence?

  Conforming to be correct and gain information
• When does informational social influence typically occur?

  When a person is unsure or lacks knowledge
• How might someone react to a fire alarm in an unfamiliar building?

  Follow the crowd to the nearest exit
• Which study is referenced for informational social influence?

  Jenness's study
• What did Jenness's study demonstrate?

  Majority influence affects behavior and beliefs
• What research support is there for normative social influence?

  Asch found participants conformed to wrong answers
• Why did conformity rates fall in Asch's study when answers were written down?

  Participants felt less self-conscious about answers
• What are individual differences in normative social influence?

  Not everyone is affected by NSI equally
• Who are nAffiliators?

  People with a greater need for affiliation
• What did McGee and Teevan find about students and conformity?

  Students high in affiliation need conformed more
• What research support is there for informational social influence?

  Lucas et al. found greater conformity on difficult tasks
• What did Lucas et al. find about students' mathematical ability?

  Lower ability students conformed more on difficult problems
• How does ISI affect individual behavior?

  ISI does not affect everyone's behavior equally
• What did Asch find about conformity rates among students?

  Students conformed less than other participants
• What did Perrin and Spencer find in their study?

  Very little conformity among science students