Types/Explanations for Conformity

• define compliance


  - temporary change in behaviour

  - public but not private acceptance
• define identification


  - publicly + privately accepting the norms in order to be part of the group, membership is valued

  - however no private acceptance when away from the group
• define internalisation


  - publicly and privately accepting the norm e.g someone converting to a religion

  - this type of conformity is usually permanent

  - individuals will display certain behaviour even in the absence of the other group members
• define informational social influence


  - looking to the majority for guidance on how to behave as we have a desire to be correct

  - results in internalisation
• define normative social influence


  - an individual conforms with the expectations of the majority in order to gain approval or to avoid social disapproval

  - results in identification
• outline Asch (1951)


  - 12 clinical trials

  - when given unambiguous line length test with confederated choosing the incorrect response, ppts gave incorrect response on 32% of trials

  - when interviewed, ppts suggested they conformed to avoid rejection from the majority: NSI
• outline Jenness (1932)


  - asked ppts alone, then after group discussion, to guess the number of beans in a jar

  - ambiguous task

  - individuals 2nd guess was closer to the guesses of other members from their group

  - evidence for ISI