Conformity

• Conformity refers to changing one's behavior or beliefs to match those of a group.
• Compliance occurs when individuals follow instructions given by an authority figure without necessarily believing them.
• Normative social influence is the pressure to conform due to fear of rejection by others, while informational social influence involves accepting information from others as true because they are perceived as more knowledgeable than oneself.
• What are the three types of conformity

  Compliance- person changes their behaviour to fit in

  Identification- person changes their public behaviour because they value something about the group

  Internalisation- public + private belief change, deepest level of conformity 
• What was the procedure for Asch's experiment?

  -120 American Uni students, told to identify differences in line lengths

  -5-7 confederates and 1 naïve participant- ppt sat last or second to last

  -37% ppts conformed
• What were variables and results for Asch's experiment

  -Group size, from 3-15 it was 32%

  -unanimity- dropped with dissenter that either agreed or disagreed with ppt

  -task difficulty increased- conformity increased
• Evaluate Asch's Study (GRAVE and one strength)

  -Lacks generalisability- only American Males

  -Lacks ecological validity + application- task not representative of real life 

  -Strength- backed up by research- Lucas et Al 
• Lucas et al. case study?

  -Tested students with maths questions and asked for correct answer aloud

  -Found that the harder the task the more ppts conformed
• Zimbardo Procedure?

  -21 emotionally stable males, volunteered through newspaper

  -Students, done in the basement of Stanford University

  -Ppts were unexpectedly arrested in their homes to add realism

  -Social Roles were allocated randomly and reinforced by uniforms

  -Guards were enthusiastic, experiment ended after 6 days insteas of 14
• Zimbardo (GRAVE and a strength)

  -Broke many ethical guidelines eg harm to ppts, right to withdraw and informed consent

  -randomly allocated roles increase internal validity