Types/Explanations of Conformity

• Types of Conformity -

  • Compliance = go along with others are doing to avoid ridicule/disapproval. Change public behaviour but not your private beliefs.
  • Identification = conform to opinions/behaviours of a group as we value the group & want to be a part of it. Publicly change our behaviours when with the group but may not change our private beliefs.
  • Internalisation = you genuinely believe & accept a group norm, public & private change in beliefs & behaviour. These changes are present even when not with group e.g. religion.
• Explanations for conformity Deutsch & Gerard (1955) - devised the dual process model of conformity.

  Normative social influence = following the crowd, to avoid rejection/ridicule, want to be liked by other members of the group. Not likely to change private opinion, affects public opinion to fit in, socially rewarding.

  RS Verkoojen et al (2007) 6000pps (16-20) in Denmark did a survey those who identified as skates, hip-hop, hippie were more likely to use drugs compared to those who identified as nerdy, sporty and religious & they were less likely to do drugs.
• Informational social influence = accepting majority's POV as others hold superior knowledge & judgement of others. Tends to lead to a change in private opinion.

  RS Lucas et al (2006) students asked to give answers to math q's greater conformity to incorrect answers to difficult q's than easier q's. Most true for those students who rated their math ability as poor. Conclusion - conform when we believe others have superior knowledge to avoid ridicule.
• Research into Majority Influence Asch -

  • Aim = whether people conform to majority opinion even when majority was obviously incorrect.
  • Pps all sat looking at 3 lines, A, B, C & matched the stimulus line to it. All but 1 of the pps was a confederate. Most of the time they have the correct answer but on some 'critical' trials they unanimously gave the wrong answer. 123 US male students, independent groups, lab study.
• Findings - naïve pps gave wrong answer 37% of the time,

  75% conformed at least once

  5% conformed every time

  When interviewed later, most said they conformed to avoid rejection - NSI.
• Variations of Asch's research: Situational factors -

  • Group size - 1 confederate: conformed 3%
  • 2 confederates: conformed 12.8%
  • 3 confederates: conformed 32% - larger group = higher chance of conformity as there is more pressure & fear of social disapproval. Levels of conformity didn't really increase after 3 confederates remained pretty constant.
• Unanimity:

  • 1 confederate gave correct answer conformity dropped to 5%.
  • 1 confederate gave different incorrect answer, conformity dropped to 9%.
  • Breaking groups unanimous position results in conformity dropping even if the answer provided by the supporter is incorrect.
• Task Difficulty: When difference between line lengths was made smaller increasing task difficulty conformity increased. Informational social influence believe other 'pps' have superior knowledge so conform to avoid rejection & ridicule.
• AO3 -

  • Lacks ecological validity, doesn't represent conformity irl can't generalise to real-life e.g. peer pressure.
  • Lack of regard towards ethical issues, lack informed consent & deception. Pps weren't aware of the aim of the study. Arguably, they needed to be deceived in order to see the 'true' effects of conformity - increases validity.
  • Sample can't be generalised, unrepresentative 123 male US students. Beta bias & culture bias.
• • Culture bias, Smith and Bond (1996) have found some countries to be more conforming than others. China, for example, considers social groups to be more important than being an individual. These are known as collectivist societies, whereas places like the USA and UK are individualist societies that focus on the needs of the individual. Therefore, Asch’s research can tell us little about variables that affect conformity in these types of societies and so lacks generalisability.
• Why we conform?


  normative social influence – going along with the majority through fear of rejection/being seen as an outcast; a desire to be liked; leads to compliance; conforming for emotional reasons – a temporary change in view/behaviour.
• Why we conform?


  informational social influence – going along with the majority through acceptance of new information; a desire to be right; leads to internalisation; conforming for cognitive reasons – a permanent change in view/behaviour.
• Types of conformity?

  • identification – wanting to have affinity with a group that we value
  • internalisation – private acceptance of the majority view
  • compliance – public acceptance despite private disagreement
• Identification


  When people want to belong to a particular group because it has high status or prestige
• Internalisation


  Individuals adopt the beliefs and values of a group without any external pressures, they genuinely agree with what the group believes and will continue to do so even if they leave the group
• Identification


  Often seen in adolescents who are trying to establish their identity
• Identification


  Type of conformity
• Features of science in Asch's research -

  • replicability: standardised (e.g. no. of confederates; length of lines) allows replicability, assesses consistency/reliability of the findings; increasing the validity of the conclusions drawn.
  • theory construction: findings led to the development of explanations of conformity, e.g. that people will conform to group pressure to avoid ridicule (normative SI)
• • hypothesis testing: research tested the assumption that naïve participants would conform to an obviously wrong answer when placed under group pressure; achieved by manipulating the IV (fake/genuine answer) to measure the effect on the DV (length of the line).