Types of conformity

• Compliance occurs when individuals follow instructions given by an authority figure without necessarily believing them.
• Conformity refers to changing one's behavior or attitude to match that of a group.
• Social influence is the process by which people's thoughts, feelings, attitudes, or behaviors are affected by others.
• Internalization involves accepting new values as your own and acting on them without external pressure.
• Obedience is the willingness to carry out orders from someone perceived as having legitimate power over us, even if we disagree with those orders or they conflict with our moral values.
• Normative social influence involves conforming to what we believe other people expect us to do.
• Informational social influence involves conforming because we want to be right.
• What is internalisation?


  when an individual is exposed to the views of a group, they validate or examine their beliefs.
• What does ISI lead to?

  internalization. It is a permanent change in opinion/behaviour, and is considered a cognitive process, as it requires you to think
• What does NSI lead to?

  Compliance.It is considered a temporary change in opinion/behaviour and is an emotional process.
• When does ISI occur?

  situations which are new to a person(so you don't know what is right), or where there is ambiguity(isn't clear what is right).It may also occur in crisis situations where decisions have to be made quickly and we assume the group is to be more right
• When is NSI likely to occur?

  likely to occur in situations with strangers where you may feel concerned about rejection, or where we do know people and worry about social approval. It may also happen in stressful situations, where people have a greater need for social support.
• What is research support for NSI?(+)

  When Asch interviewed participants, some said they conformed because they felt self conscious about their answers.It was found that conformity fell to 12.5% when participants wrote their answers down.
• What is research support for ISI?(+)

  An example is from Lucas, in which particpnats conformed more to incorrect answers when maths questions became more difficult.Participants did not want to be wrong,sp they replied on the answers they were given.
• How are individual differences explained in NSI?(-)

  nAffilators-people with a strong desire to be liked.Mcghee and Teegan found that students who were nAffilators were more likely to conform.