Variables affecting Conformity

• what are situational factors?

  • factors/influences that are external to the person and can be controlled.
• what are dispositional factors?

  • influences that are internal to the person and can't be controlled.
• anonymity (situational factors):

  • when everyone gives their answers anonymously, it avoids social judgement, allowing more freedom to give answers that you truly believe in.
  • in other words, it frees you from declarative social influence as there is no need to fulfill the expecations of others. therefore anonymity often greatly reduced conformity levels.
• task difficulty (situational factors):

  • greater conformity rates are seen when task difficulty increases, as the right answer becomes less obvious.
  • means that individuals will look to others more for guidance as to what the correct reponse is, suggesting that ISI is the dominant force.
• research that supports task difficulty (situational factors):

  • asch (1956)- increased task difficulty by making the comparison lines similar to each other, found that when he did so, p's were more likely to conform to wrong answers.
  • therefore the effect of task difficulty on conformity and how it can turn normative influence into informational social influence.
• culture (situational factor):

  • shapes conformity by setting shared norms and values that guide behavior. while conformity exists everywhere, it tends to be stronger in collectivist cultures that value group harmony than in individualistic cultures that emphasize personal autonomy.
• unanimity (situational factor)

  • conformity rates have been found to decline when majority influence is not unanimous.
  • reduction in the majority's agreement, rather than an individual being given support for their opinions, as conformity drops if a rebel goes against the majority who don't support the rebel's viewpoint.
• research into unanimity (situational factors)

  • asch (1956)- found if there was one confederate who went against the other confederates, conformity dropped from around 32% to 5.5%.
  • but if rebel went against both the other confederates and the real p', conformity still dropped to 9%, suggesting powerful effect unanimity of a group can have on getting people to conform.
• group size (situational factors):

  • research indicates that conformity rates increase as the size of a majority influence increases.
  • but there comes a point where further increases in the size of the majority don't lead to further increases in conformity.
• research into group size (situational factors):

  • asch (1956)- identified group size as a variable that influences conformity. found that as he increased the size of the majority, conformity levels increased.
  • w/two confederates, conformity occurred on 12.8% of trials, rising to 32% for trials with 3 confederates. however, after that group size did not make a sig. difference to rate of conformity.
• authoritarian personality (dispositional factors):

  • adorno's theory of authoritarian personality suggests that individuals w/a partic. set of traits, including a preference for strong authority figures and hostility towards minorities and out-groups, will display higher levels of obdedience.
• mood (dispositional factors):

  • refers to a relatively stable, internal tendency to experience certain emotions or mood over time.
• gender (dispositional factors):

  • relates to enduring personal characteristics that can influence an individual's behaviour, thoughts & actions.