Explanations

• Informational Social Influence (ISI)

  • who has the better information?
  • follow the behaviour of the group because we want to be right
  • leads to internalisation
  • cognitive process
• Normative Social Influence (NSI)

  • what is the typical behaviour of the group
  • emotional process
  • leads to compliance
• Deutsch and Gerard (1955)


  created a two-process theory for why people conform

  • informational social influence
  • normative social influence
• Strength of NSI

  • research support - Asch - some participants said they conformed because they felt self conscious
• Limitations of NSI

  • difficult to identify which one is operating
• Strengths of ISI

  • research support - Lucas et al. (2006) - difficult maths question
• Limitations of ISI

  • individual differences - nAffiliators - strong need for affiliation