A03

• What is a weakness of normative social influence is that there are individual differences

  -Some research shows that NSI does not affect everyone’s behaviour in the same way.

  -Individuals who have a greater need for association with others are described as nAffiliators – they have a greater need for being in a relationship with others.

  -As such, they are more likely to be affected by NSI as they have more desire to be liked
• This shows that..

  -the desire to be liked underlies conformity for some people more than others and therefore shows there are individual differences in the way people respond.
• One weakness of the explanations for conformity is that the distinction between NSI and ISI may not be clear.

  -Deutsch and Gerrard suggested behaviour is due to either NSI or ISI, but in reality, its more often both processes involved. For example, in one variation, Asch found that adding a dissenter to the group reduced conformity.

  -This dissenter may have reduced the power of NSI (because they provided social support) or reduced the power of ISI (because there is an alternative source of information).
• This shows that it...

  -isn’t always possible to be sure whether ISI or NSI is at work and as such, casts doubt over the view that the two processes operate independently in conformity.
• A strength is research support for ISI (Lucas maths problems)

  -Lucas et al (2006) found that ppts conformed more often to incorrect answers they were given when the maths problems were more difficult

  -when the problems were easy the "ppts knew their own minds" but when the problems became hard the situation become ambiguous

  -They did not want to be wrong so they relied on answers they were given

  -As the results reflect the predictions of ISI, it suggests that ISI is a valid explanation of conformity.
• Another strength is supporting research from Schultz

  -found they were able to change the behaviour of hotel guests by using printed messages encouraging them to save energy

  -hotel guests exposed to the message that 75% of guests reused their towels each day reduced their own towel use by 25% suggesting that people shape their behaviour out of a desire to fit in with their reference group
• Another strength is supporting research from Asch

  -ppts agreed with confederates incorrect answers 36.8% of the time

  -when interviewed later on some ppts said they conformed bc they felt self conscious giving the correct answer and they were afraid of disapproval
• what happened when ppts wrote answers down instead of saying them out loud

  -conformity fell to 12.5%-no normative pressure when wiritng answers privately