Social influence

• Asch's study findings - On average pps conformed with clearly incorrect majority on about one third (32%) of the critical trials. Over the 12 critical trials, about 75% of pps conformed at least once. 25% of pps never conformed. Few pps said they really did believe group's answers were correct (ISI).
• The procedure of Asch's research into conformity


  (1951, 1955). 1 card was standard line card and other was comparison lines. Asch told pps he was studying visual perception: their task was to decide which of the lines on the standard line card was the same as the comparison lines. Task was designed to be unambiguous. Pps were showed lines in groups of up to 8:1. 7 confederates to 1 naïve pps. Asch asked the students to give their answers aloud. Only 1 pps in each group was a real subject. All others were confederates instructed to sometimes give incorrect answers. Naïve pps 2nd to last person in each group. Each pps saw 18 trials (12 critical). n = 50 (1951), n= 123 (1955). All college US male students.
• When is NSI likely to occur?

  When with strangers and feel worried about being rejected. When with people you know and want social approval. When stressed and needing social support.
• Normative social influence


  Occurs when we want to fit in a group. People follow others to avoid looking foolish and gain social approval. NSI = emotional process.
• When does ISI typically occur?


  Situations where: Situation is new to someone (don't know what is right). Situation where there is ambiguity (not clear what's right). Other people are viewed as expert.
• Informative social influence


  Occurs when we are uncertain about what beliefs/ behaviours are correct. Follow the behaviour of the group because they want to be right and assume the group know better. ISI = cognitive process.
• Who made the 2 process model to explain conformity and the explanations


  Deutsch and Gerard (1955) - 2 process model. 2 main explanations: Informative Social Influence (ISI). Normative Social Influence (NSI).
• Internalisation


  When someone genuinely accepts the group norms. This results in a public/private change of opinion/behaviour. Change is likely permanent bc attitudes have been internalised. This change in opinion/ behaviour persists even in absence of other group members.
• Identification


  Conforming to the opinions/behaviours of a group because we value something about the group. We identify with the group as we want to be part of it. We may publicly change our opinions/behaviour to achieve this goal, even if we don't privately agree with everything the group stands for.
• Compliance


  Person conforms publicly but continues to privately disagree. Results in only a superficial change. A particular behaviour/ opinion stops as soon as the group pressure stops.
• Types of conformity


  • Compliance
  • Identification
  • Internalisation
• ISI


  Supporting evidence
• Jenness (1932)


  Research into conformity
• Jenness (1932) study


  1. Students asked to guess number of beans in jar

  2. Given opportunity to discuss estimates in groups

  3. Asked to give individual estimates again
• Nearly all participants changed their original estimate to be closer to the group estimate
• Participants changed their answer


  Because they believed the group estimate was more likely to be right than their own individual estimate
• Jenness (1932) study


  • Lab experiment
  • Beans in jar not much significance to participants so other people's choices no significance on decision
  • Doesn't mirror the way we act in real life
• Evaluation: NSI - supporting evidence

  Goldstein, Cialdini et al (1999) Hotel guests were shown 1 of 2 different messages about reusing towels. Help save the environment. Join your fellow guests in helping to save the environment. Message 1 achieved 38% positive behaviour. Message 2 achieved 48% positive behaviour. Message 2 involved NSI (guests wanting to be like other guests) and had a clear effect on changing behaviour. +field experiment --> real world application. -Not controlled.
• Evaluation: Individual differences in NSI.

  Research shows that NSI does not affect everyone's behaviour in the same way. Ppl who are less concerned with being liked are less affected by NSI. nAffiliators = Ppl who have a greater need for 'affiliation'. E.g. McGhee and Teevan (1967) found that students high in need of affiliation were more likely to conform.
• Variations of Asch's study.


  Unanimity - When one confederate in group was instructed to give the correct answer conformity fell to 5%. pps acted more independently. Task difficulty - When task was more ambiguous conformity increased. Task harder so more likely to look at other ppl for guidance and assume they are right and we are wrong. Group size - With 3 confederates conformity rose to 31.8% but addition of further confederates made little different. No need of majority of more than 3 for sufficient influence to take place.
• Evaluation Asch's study: Supporting evidence.

  Jenness (1932) - research into conformity. Students asked to guess the number of beans in a jar. After being given the opportunity to discuss their estimates in groups they were asked to give their individual estimates again. Nearly all pps changed their original estimate to one closer to group estimate. Conclusion - pps changed their answers bc they believed the group estimate was more likely to be right than their own individual estimate. ISI.
• Evaluation Asch's study: Conflicting evidence.


  Perrin and Spencer (1980). Replicated Asch's experiment on a sample of UK engineering students. Across 396 trials, only 1 pps conformed. Suggestion is that greater degree of expertise and confidence of engineering students prevented conformity on this task.
• Asch's study


  • Population validity
  • Sample unrepresentative of rest of population
  • Male, American, young, students
• Sample was all male


  We may expect men to be less conformist than women due to gender-related social norms/ expectations
• Individualist culture (America/UK)


  May be less conformist than collectivist culture
• Uni students


  May be more confirmative than older people due to peer pressure or they are in 1st year of Uni and want validation/ be accepted by their classmates
• Uni students


  May be less conformist as teenagers want to stand out from crowd and rebel against norms
• Evaluations Asch's study: Ecological validity.


  Asch's task was conducted in artificial setting and may not have reflected real-life issues of conformity/ resistance. If the stakes were so low then pps didn't have a reason to rebel against the crowd. Ppl might be less likely to conform when they have a more personal interest in the situation.
• Evaluation Asch's study: Temporal validity.


  1950's America was very conformist due to Cold War. McCarthyism and the red scare. McCarthy made list of all ppl he thought were secretly communist in the government. Fear of espionage so everyone was suspicious of everyone. Ppl were scared to stand out in fear of being labelled as communist.