conformity

• Identification


  Sometimes we conform to the opinions/behavior of a group because there is something about that group we value. We identify with the group, so we want to be part of it. This may mean we publicly change our opinions/behavior to achieve this goal, even if we don't privately agree with everything the group stands for
• Conformity is an imagined pressure from a group because we fear the consequences if we don't necessarily agree with what the group believes
• Normative social influence (NSI)

  Is about norms, i.e., what is normal or typical behavior for a social group. Norms regulate the behavior of groups and individuals. People pay attention to norms to gain social approval rather than be rejected. NSI is an emotional rather than a cognitive process. It is mostly likely to occur in situations with strangers or with people you know, where social approval is important. It may be more pronounced in stressful situations where people have a greater need for social support
• Informational social influence (ISI)


  Is about who has the better information - you or the rest of the group. Often, people are uncertain about what behaviors or beliefs are right or wrong. Individuals may follow the behavior of the majority because they want to be right. It is most likely to happen in new or ambiguous situations or in crisis situations where decisions have to be made quickly. It also occurs when one person or group is regarded as being more of an expert
• Internalisation

  Occurs when a person genuinely accepts the group norms, resulting in a private as well as a public change of opinions/behavior. This change is likely to be permanent because attitudes have been internalized, becoming part of the way the person thinks. The change in opinions/behavior persists even in the absence of other group members
• Herbert Keiman suggested that there are three ways in which people conform to the opinion of a majority
• Morton Deutsch and Harold Gerard developed a two-process theory, arguing that there are two main reasons people conform based on the need to be right and the need to be liked
• Our minds are all subject to the forces of conformity where we accept it as correct
• Compliance


  Involves simply 'going along with others in public, but privately not changing personal opinions and/or behavior. Compliance results in only a superficial change and also means that a particular behavior or opinion stops as soon as group pressure stops
• Conformity can lead to compliance where we go along with the opinion of the group even if we don't agree with it
• Some research shows that NSI does not affect everyone's behaviour in the same way. For example, people who are less concerned with being liked are less affected by NSI than those who care more about being liked. Those who have a need for association with others are described as nAffiliators. These are people who have a greater need for affiliation - a need for being in a relationship with others. For example, McGhee and Teevan (1967) found that students high in need of affiliation were more likely to conform
• This shows that it isn't always possible to be sure whether NSI or ISI is at work. This is the case in lab studies, but is even truer in real-life conformity situations outside the lab. This casts serious doubt over the view of ISI and NSI as two processes operating independently in conforming behaviour
• Asch (1951) found that many of his participants went along with a clearly wrong answer just because other people did. So he asked them why they did this. Some of the participants said they felt self-conscious giving the correct answer and they were afraid of disapproval. When Asch repeated his study but asked participants to write down their answers instead of saying them out loud, conformity rates fell 12.5%
• The idea of Deutsch and Gerard's 'two-process' approach is that behaviour is neither due to NSI or ISI. But more often, both processes are involved. For example, conformity is reduced when there is one other dissenting participant in the Asch experiment. This dissenter may reduce the power of NSI (because the dissenter provides social support) or may reduce the power of ISI (because there is an alternative source of information)
• The study shows that people conform in situations where they feel they don't know the answer, which is exactly the outcome predicted by the ISI explanation. People look to other people and assume they know better than us and must be right
• Consider: Explain why such individual differences are a limitation of the ISI explanation
• Luces et al (2006) asked students to give answers to mathematical problems that were easy or more difficult. There was greater conformity to incorrect answers when they were difficult rather than when they were easier. This was most true for students who rated their mathematical ability as poor
• This shows that the desire to be liked underlies conformity for some people more than others. Therefore, there are individual differences in the way people respond
• Individual differences in ISI do not affect everyone's behaviour in the same way. For example, Asch (1955) found that students were less conformant (28%) than other participants (37%). Perrin and Spencer (1980) conducted a study involving science and engineering students and found very little conformity