Types and explanations

• AO1 - internalisation

  • When a person genuinely accepts group norms.
  • Results in a private and public change of opinions / behaviours.
  • The change is usually permanent.
  • Continues in the absence of the group as attitudes have been internalised.
• AO1 - identification

  • When we identify with a group that we value, we want to be part of it.
  • So we publicly change our opinions / behaviours, even if we don’t privately agree with everything the group stands for.
• AO1 - compliance

  • When a person ‘goes along with others’ in public, but privately not changing opinions / behaviours.
  • Short-term change.
  • The opinions / behaviours stops as soon as group pressure stops.
• AO1 - informational social influence (ISI)

  • If we are unsure about what behaviours are right or wrong, we follow the majority as we feel they are most likely to be right and we want to be right.
  • ISI is a cognitive process as it‘s to do with what we think.
  • ISI leads to internalisation.
  • ISI is most likely to happen in new situations, as it isn’t clear what is right.
  • It occurs when decisions have to be made quickly.
• AO1 - normative social influence (NSI)

  • NSI is about what is ‘normal’ behaviour for a social group.
  • NSI is an emotional process as we prefer social approval rather than rejection.
  • NSI leads to compliance.
  • NSI occurs in situations with strangers if you don’t want to be rejected, or around friends as we are concerned about the social approval of friends.
  • It occurs in stressful situations where people have a need of social support.
• AO3 - ✔️NSI is that there is research support


  • Asch found that many participants conformed rather than give the correct answer as they were afraid of disapproval.
  • When participants wrote their answers down, conformity fell to 12.5%.
  • This is because giving answers privately meant there was not normative group pressure.
  • Shows that at least some conformity is due to a desire of not being rejected by a group for disagreeing with them.
• AO3 - ✔️ISI is that there is research support 


  • Lucas et al found participants conformed more to incorrect answers when given difficult maths problems.
  • This is because when the problems were easy the participants ‘knew their own minds’.
  • When the problems were hard, the situation became unclear, so they relied on the incorrect answers given.
  • Supports ISI as a valid explanation of conformity as the results are what ISI would predict.
• AO3 - counterpoint; ISI has research support

  • However, it’s unclear whether it is NSI or ISI at work in studies and real life.
  • Asch found that conformity is reduced when there is a dissenter present.
  • The dissenter may reduce the power of NSI as they provide social support or reduce the power of ISI as they provide an alternative source of social information.
  • Therefore, it’s hard to separate ISI and NSI as both processes may operate together in most real-world conformity situations.
• AO3 - ✖️NSI doesn’t predict conformity in every case.


  • Some people are greatly concerned with being liked by others.
  • These people are called nAffliators.
  • McGhee and Teevan found that students who were nAffliators were more likely to conform.
  • Shows that NSI underlines conformity for some people more than others.
  • There are individual differences in conformity that can’t be fully explained by one general theory of situational pressures.