Social Influence - Psychology

• What are the three types of conformity?


  Compliance, Identification and Internalisation
• Which psychologist said there were 3 types of conformity?


  Kelmen (1958)
• What is compliance?


  When people change their behaviours/opinions to fit in with the group
• What sort of form and level of conformity is compliance?

  very public form + lowest level
• When is compliance only shown?

  When in the presence of the group
• What is identification?


  When a person changes their behaviours/opinions because they want to belong to a group/ fit in
• What form of conformity is identification?Why?

  Stronger form because they want to be publicly and privately accepted by the group
• Why is identification temporary?

  when we leave the group we no longer seek their acceptance
• What is internalisation?

  Genuinely changing behaviours/opinions even when not with the group.

  See the group a correct +accept their opinions/behaviours.

  Not dependent on group presence
• What is conformity?

  Yielding to group pressure. Often linked to majority influence
• What is NSI?


  Normative influence - influenced by the majority because want to fit in with what is socially acceptable to avoid rejection - leads to temporary change in behaviours
• What is ISI?

  Informational influence - based off when we think someone has better info due to thinking they’re more informed. Involves following majority
• What are the pros of ISI?

  Supporting evidence - Lucas et al (2006) conformity greater to an incorrect answer than when the question was difficult
• Cons ISI

  Affects all ppl differently

  • Asch (1955) conformity reduced when 1 other dissenting participant

  Knowledgable ppl less influence by right view of majority
• Cons of ISI + NSI

  Oversimplified - not always poss to identify which one is at work - both may operate together irl situations
• Pros of NSI

  Evidence supports as an explanation of conformity - Asch
• Cons NSI

  Doesnt predict in every case e.g affiliators - McGhee + Teevun (1967) found affiliations conformed more
• Who made the 2 process theory of NSI + ISI

  Deutsch + Gerald (1955)
• What was Asch’s study called?

  Lines
• What year was asch’s study?

  1956
• What were the three variables in ashc’s study?

  Group size, unanimity and task difficulty
• How was group size investigated in asch’s study

  -Increased group size by adding condederates

  -Increased size of majority

  -Conformity increased
• How was unanimity investigated in asch’s study

  • The confederates all chose the same incorrect answer
  • Produced more conformity
• How was task difficulty investigated in asch’s study

  -Line task more difficult when harder to work out -More conformity when more difficult
• What type of experiment did Asch use?

  Lab
• What was the procedure for asch’s study

  -showed 2 white cards, one w a standard line and the other with 3 comparison lines

  -participant asked which of the 3 matched

  -Each tested individually with a group of 6-8 confederates unbeknown to the participants

  -18 trials, 12/18 critical trials, all confeds gave wrong answer
• How many trials were there in asch’s study

  18 total, 12 critical
• what percentage of responses were incorrect on the 12 critical trials?

  36.8%
• On a control trial with no confederates, mistakes were only made what% of the time? (Asch)

  1%
• What % of participants conformed once or didn’t conform

  25% didn’t conform at all

  75% conformed once
• What did participants say they conformed to avoid?

  To avoid rejection (NSI)
• What 3 reasons were found that participants conformed for?

  Distortion of perception- same as majority

  Distortion of judgment- unsure of own judgement

  Distortion of action - privately thought different but changed to avoid public disapproval
• Evaluation points Asch - A child of its time

  -Conflicting evidence (Perrin + Spencer 1980) engineering students in UK, only 1 conform/396 trials. -engineering students may have felt more confident about measuring lines than original sample so less conformist

  • 1950s = especially conformist time in US so made sense to conform to social norms
  • society changed since + ppl less conformist maybe
  • Asch effect isn’t consistent across time and so isn’t a fundamental feature of human behaviour
• Evaluation points Asch - Artificial situation + task

  • Participants knew they were in a research study.. demand cahracteristics
  • Fishe - groups not very groupy to everyday situations
• What was a limitation of Asch's study regarding the participants used?

  Only men were used in the study.
• Evaluation Asch - Findings only apply in certain situations

  The fact participants has to answer out loud and we’re with a group of strangers who they wanted to impress might mean that conformity was higher than usual. On the other hand, Williams+soon found conformity was higher when the majority of the group were friends rather than strangers
• Why do some researchers suggest that women might be more conformist than men?

  Because women may be more concerned about social relationships than men.
• From which country were the men in Asch's study?

  The men were from the US.
• What type of culture is the US considered in the context of Asch's study?

  The US is considered an individualistic culture.
• What did similar conformity studies conducted in collectivist cultures find?

  They found that conformity levels oriented to group needs.