conformity

• Conformity


  When a person's private or public attitude is influenced by the majority
• Types of conformity


  • Compliance
  • Identification
  • Internalisation
• Situational variables that affect conformity


  • Group size
  • Unanimity
  • Task difficulty
• Internalisation 


  Occurs when a person genuinely accepts the group norms. This results in a private as well as a public change of opinions/behaviour. This change is usually permanent because attitudes have been internalised. The change in opinions/behaviour persists even in the absence of other group members.
• Identification


  Sometimes we conform to the opinions/behaviour of a group because there is something about that group we value. We identify with the group, so we want to be part of it. This identification may mean we publicly change our opinions/behaviour to be accepted by the group, even if we don't privately agree with everything the group stands.
• Compliance


  This type of conformity involves simply 'going along with others' in public, but privately not changing personal opinions and/or behaviour. Compliance results in only a superficial change. It also means that a particular behaviour or opinion stops as soon as group pressure stops.
• Informational social influence (ISI) is the tendency to conform to the opinion of others because we believe their opinion is correct
• Normative social influence (NSI) is an explanation of conformity that says we agree with the opinion of the majority because we want to gain social approval and be liked.
• ISI may lead to internalisation
• NSI may lead to compliance
• Compliance: is public change only, superficial
• Identification: is wanting to be like the group, public and private change
• Internalisation: accepting group norms, results in private as well as public change of opinions/behaviour
• WHY people conform

  • Informational social influence (ISI) is about information, the desire to be right. Cognitive process
  • Normative social influence (NSI) is about norms, desire to be liked by other group members and to fit in. Emotional process.
• Strength for NSI

  • Research support by Asch line study
  • When interviewing Px some said they conformed because they felt self-concious giving the correct answer and were afraid of disapproval
  • When answers were written down privately, conformity fell to 12.5% - no normative group pressure
• Strength for ISI

  • Lucas et al. maths problems (easy vs hard)
  • More people conformed to incorrect answers when the maths problems were difficult
  • Situation became ambiguous (unclear)
• Counterpoint

  • often unclear whether it is NSI or ISI at work in research studies (or in real life)
  • Asch (1955) found that conformity is reduced when there is one other dissenting participant
  • the dissenter may reduce the power of NSI (because they provide social support) or they may reduce the power of ISI (because they provide an alternative source of social information)
  • hard to separate ISI and NSI and both processes probably operate together in most real-world conformity