Conformity: Types and explanations

• internalisation

  when a person genuinely accepts group norms - it results in a private and public change of behaviour/opinions.

  the change is more likely to be permanent and persist in the absence of group members.
• identification

  when we identify with a group we value, we want to become a part of it. so we publicly change our opinions/behaviour, even if we don't privately agree with everything the group stands for.
• compliance

  involves 'going along with others' in public, but privately not changing our opinions or behaviour. this results in only a superficial change and the opinion/behaviour stops as soon as group pressure ceases.
• ISI - informational social influence, a desire to be right.


  It's a cognitive process - most people generally want to be right. Ex. you may not know the answer to a question in class, but if most of the others agree you go along with them because you feel they're probably right.
• ISI occurs in situations that are ambiguous. 


  It's most likely in situations which are new or there are some ambiguities, so it isn't clear what's right. It may happen when decisions have to be made quickly, and when one person or group is regarded as being more expert.
• NSI - normative social influence, a desire to behave like others and to not look foolish.


  NSI concerns what is 'normal' or typical behaviour for a social group. Norms regulate the behaviour of groups and individuals so it's not surprising that we pay attention to them.

  NSI is an emotional rather than cognitive process - people prefer social approval rather than rejection.
• A strength of ISI is that there is research support.

  Lucas asked students to give answers to easy and more difficult maths problems. There was more conformity to incorrect answers when the problems were difficult. This was more true for students who rated their maths ability as poor. People conform in situations where they feel they don't know the answer (ISI). We look to others to assume they are right and they know better than us.
• A limitation of ISI is that there are individual differences.

  Asch found that students were less conformists (28%) than other participants (37%). Perrin and Spencer's also found less conformity in students - in this study they were engineering students. People who are more knowledgeable and/or more confident are less influenced by the apparently 'right' view of a majority. Therefore there are differences in how individuals respond to ISI.
• A limitation of both ISI and NSI is that the 'two-process' approach is oversimplified. 


  This approach states that behaviour is either due to NSI or ISI. However, conformity was reduced when there was a dissenting partner in the Asch experiment. This dissenter may reduce the power of NSI (by providing social support) or reduce the power of ISI (because they offer an alternative source of information). Therefore it isn't always possible to know whether NSI or ISI is at work. This questions the view of ISI and NSI as operating independently in conforming behaviour.