Types and explanations

• Types

  Internalisation- a person genuinely accepts group norms, this results in private as well as public change in behaviour, usually a permanent change as attitudes are internalised. The chAnge exists in absence of group members

  Identification- conforming to a groups opinions/behaviour because we value something about them. Publicly change opinions/behaviour, usually to be accepted, even if we don’t privately agree with everything the group stands for

  Compliance- going along with others in public, but not privately changing behaviour or opinions. Stops as soon as group pressure stops 
• Explanations

  Informational- the need to be right, we are often uncertain about which behaviours are right or wrong. Most likely to happen in new situations or where there is ambiguity. Follow behaviour f the majority. Leads to a permanent change in opinion/behaviour (cognitive)

  Normative- the need to be liked, people like to be accepted by a social group so they copy behaviour, leads to a temporary change in behaviour. Often in situations where you fear rejection, and don’t want to feel foolish (emotional)
• one strength is the support for the normative explanation

  when asch interviewed his participants, some said they confirmed because they felt self-conscious giving the correct answer and 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 no normative group pressure
• a strength is support for informational explanation

  Lucas found participants confirmed more often to incorrect answers when the maths problems were difficult. When questions were easy participants were confident in their answers, as they became harder the situation became ambiguous and they didn’t want to be wrong so relied on other peoples answers

  however, its unclear if it is normative or informational in research studies. conformity fell when a confederate broke majority, it may be because they provide participant social support (NSI) or because they provide more social information (ISI)
• A limitation is that normative explanation does not predict conformity in every case

  Some people are greatly concerned with being liked by others, and they want to relate to other people

  A psychologist found that students who were like this were more likely to conform

  This shows that NSI explains conformity for some people more than it does others, and there are individual differences that can’t be fully explained by one general theory