SOCIAL INFLUENCE

• Internalisation


  When a person genuinely accepts the group norms, resulting in a private as well as a public change of opinions/behaviour that is likely to be permanent
• Identification


  Conforming to the opinions/behaviour of a group because there is something about that group we value, so we want to be part of it
• Compliance


  Conforming by simply 'going along with others' in public, but privately not changing personal opinions and/or behaviour
• Informational social influence (ISI)


  Conforming because the group is perceived to have better information, so we accept their beliefs/behaviours to be right
• Normative social influence (NSI)

  Conforming because of norms, i.e. what is 'normal' or typical behaviour for a social group, to gain social approval and avoid rejection
• ISI is most likely to happen

  In situations that are new to a person, have some ambiguity, are crisis situations, or where one person/group is regarded as an expert
• NSI is most likely to occur

  In situations with strangers where there is concern about rejection, or with people you know because of the need for social approval
• Research shows greater conformity to incorrect answers when they were difficult rather than when they were easier, especially for students who rated their mathematical ability as poor</b>
• People who are less concerned with being liked are less affected by NSI than those who care more about being liked
• Conformity is reduced when there is one other dissenting participant, which may reduce the power of NSI or ISI
• ISI and NSI often work together, rather than operating independently, in real-life conformity situations
• Students were less conformist (28%) than other participants (37%) in Asch's study, and science/engineering students showed very little conformity
• Conformity rates fell to 12.5% when Asch repeated his study but asked participants to write down their answers instead of saying them out loud