Social influence

• Conformity


  A type of social influence that describes how a person changes their attitude or behaviour in response to group pressure
• Types of conformity


  • Compliance
  • Identification
  • Internalisation
• Compliance


  The shallowest level of conformity where a person changes their public behaviour but not their private beliefs
• Identification


  The middle level of conformity where a person changes their public behaviour and their private beliefs, but only while they are in the presence of the group
• Internalisation


  The deepest level of conformity where a person changes their public behaviour and their private beliefs on a long-term basis
• Explanations for conformity


  • Normative social influence (NSI)
  • Informational social influence (ISI)
• Normative social influence (NSI)

  When a person conforms to be accepted and to feel that they belong to the group
• Informational social influence (ISI)


  When a person conforms to gain knowledge, or because they believe that someone else is 'right'
• Normative social influence is usually associated with compliance and identification
• Informational social influence is usually associated with internalisation
• Compliance


  • Change in public behaviour? Yes
  • Change in private belief? No
  • Short-term/long-term? Short-term
• Identification


  • Change in public behaviour? Yes
  • Change in private belief? Yes (Only in the presence of the majority)
  • Short-term/long-term? Short-term
• Internalisation


  • Change in public behaviour? Yes
  • Change in private belief? Yes
  • Short-term/long-term? Long-term
• Variations in Asch's conformity study

  • Made the task more difficult by making the difference between the line lengths smaller and therefore appear closer together and more ambiguous
  • Increased the rate of conformity, although the percentage was not reported
• Increased ambiguity of the task

  Increased conformity
• This is likely to be the result of informational social influence, as individuals look to another for guidance when undertaking an ambiguous task, similar to the results found in Jenness' experiment, in order to be 'right'
• Variations in Asch's conformity study

  • Group Size: 1 Confederate (Lower conformity at 3%)
  • Group Size: 2 Confederates (Lower conformity at 12.8%)
  • Group Size: 3 Confederates (Conformity remained the same at 32%)
  • Group Size: 15 Confederates (Lower conformity at ~29%)
  • Unanimity - 1 Confederate gave the correct answer throughout (Lower conformity at 5%)
  • Unanimity - 1 Confederate gave a different incorrect answer to the majority (Lower conformity at 9%)
  • Task Difficulty - Difference between line lengths made significantly smaller (Higher conformity, percentage not published)
• Social psychology acknowledges the role of situational factors, such as group pressure, in determining human behaviour such as conformity
• Social psychology also suggests that individuals can exercise personal responsibility for their actions and demonstrate free will through showing independent behaviour
• Explanations of conformity (NSI/ISI) adopt a nomothetic approach as they attempt to provide general principles relating to human behaviour when observed under group pressure from a majority
• Social psychology uses scientific methods, often in highly-controlled laboratory settings, to investigate key concepts which can be replicated, for example, Asch's original study
• The fact that Asch only used male participants in his sample shows a beta bias, as his research may have ignored or minimised the differences between men and women in relation to conformity
• Conformity to social roles is when an individual adopts a particular behaviour and belief, while in a particular social situation
• People learn how to behave in certain situations by observing the social roles of others and conforming to this behaviour
• Conformity to social roles

  Identification - a person changes their public behaviour and private beliefs but only while they are in a particular social role
• Stanford Prison Experiment


  Zimbardo's (1973) research investigating conformity to social roles
• Zimbardo's research also demonstrates examples of obedience, but the question is only about conformity to social roles
• Reicher and Haslam's (2006) replication of the Stanford Prison Experiment


  Contradicts Zimbardo's findings - participants did not conform to their social roles automatically
• Individual differences and personality also determine the extent to which a person conforms to social roles
• Zimbardo's experiment broke many ethical guidelines, in particular protection from harm
• Zimbardo acknowledged the study should have been stopped earlier
• Extremely sadistic behaviour was displayed by around one third of the participants in the role of guards, while a few guards actually helped the prisoners by offering support, sympathy, cigarettes and reinstating privileges
• This suggests that situational factors are not the only cause of conformity to social roles, and dispositional factors such as personality also play a role, implying that Zimbardo's conclusion could have been overstated
• Zimbardo's experiment has been heavily criticised for breaking many ethical guidelines, in particular, protection from harm
• Five of the prisoners left the experiment early because of their adverse reactions to the physical and mental torment
• Some of the guards reported feelings of anxiety and guilt, as a result of their actions during the Stanford Prison Experiment
• Zimbardo followed the ethical guidelines of Stanford University and debriefed his participants afterwards, but he acknowledged that the study should have been stopped earlier
• Zimbardo was responding more in the role of superintendent of the prison rather than as the researcher with responsibility for his participants
• An intended benefit of Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment was to provide real‐world applications to improve the US prison system
• There were some beneficial reforms in the way that some prisoners were treated, for example, juvenile detainees