Conformity

Question 1

What is social psychology?

Answer 1

Social Psychology looks at the relationships between people and how people affect each other’s behaviour (social influence).

Question 2

What is conformity?

Answer 2

• form of social influence
• a person changes their behaviour, attitudes or beliefs = they are in line with the majority
• occurs because of pressure from the majority = this pressure can be real or imagined

Question 3

What is compliance?

Answer 3

• when individuals adjust the behaviour, attitudes or beliefs they
  show in PUBLIC = they are in line with the majority.
• no change to private behavior, attitudes or beliefs and conformity —> only lasts while the group is present
• superficial and temporary

Question 4

What is internalisation?

Answer 4

• when individuals adjust their behavior, attitudes or beliefs,
  PUBLICALLY and PRIVATELY = they are in line with the majority.
• individual examines their own behavior, attitudes or beliefs based on what others are saying = decides majority is correct
• deeper than compliance + more permanent

Question 5

What is identification?

Answer 5

• when an individual accepts social influence= want
  to be associated with a role model/social group.
• adopting the role model/group’s behavior, attitudes or beliefs makes them feel connected to the role model/group.

Question 6

What is social influence?

Answer 6

When an individual change your behaviour because of other people

Question 7

Who are the two psychologists who developed a theory to explain conformity?

Answer 7

Deutsch and Gerrard (1955)

Question 8

What are the two types of social influences/ reasons as to why people conform?

Answer 8

• normative social influence

- informational social influence

Question 9

what is normative social influence?

Answer 9

• people need social approval + acceptance
• we copy behaviour of others to ‘fit in’
• likely to lead to compliance = agree PUBLICALLY but don’t change their opinions privately

Question 10

what is informational social influence?

Answer 10

• people need to be right/ correct
• rely on the opinions of others to check if they are correct = use as evidence about reality
• more likely to happen if situation = ambiguous OR others are experts
• leads to internalisation = PUBLICALLY and PRIVATELY change opinions/beliefs

Question 11

What are the three things you should evaluate for an evaluation?

Answer 11

• Ethical?
• Sample?
• Methodology?

Question 12

What are the ads of conformity?

Answer 12

• Asch (1951)
• which three ‘test lines’ = same as ‘standard line’
• confederates PURPOSEFULLY gave wrong answer = correct answer was obvious
• in 33% of trials = participants conformed = normative social influence
• after, participants claimed = were worried that group would ridicule = reject them (even though they knew the right answer)
• Jenness (1932)
• estimate how many beans were in a jar = individual attempt first then group
• group: estimates roughly the same (previously different as individual)
• informational social influence = uncertain of no.of sweets = genuinely influenced
• Sherif (1935)
• used autokinetic effect = small spot of light appeared to be moving but acc still (visual illusion)
• individually = estimates varied e.g. 20cm-80cm
• then tested in groups of 3: 2 similar est. + 1 v diff = group converged to common estimate
• 1 person conformed = informational social influence –> task was ambiguous

Question 13

What are the variables affecting conformity in relation to an experiment?

Answer 13

• Asch (1951)
• procedure
• findings
• group size
• task difficulty
• unanimity

Question 14

How does the procedure of Asch’s (1951) experiment affect/ explain conformity?

Answer 14

• he placed a naïve participant w/ group of confederates
• which three ‘test lines’ = same length as ‘standard line’ = answer aloud 1 @ a time
• confederates PURPOSEFULLY gave wrong answers 12/18 trials = correct answer was obvious
• naïve participant was 2nd to last/ last to answer/ give response

Question 15

What were the findings of Asch’s experiment?

Answer 15

• genuine mistake = 1%
• which three ‘test lines’ = same as ‘standard line’
• in 33% of trials = participants conformed = normative social influence = incorrect answer
• 75% conformed on every trial
• 25% didn’t conform on any trial
• majority trusted own judgement but still gave wrong answer = avoid disapproval
• after, participants claimed = were worried that group would ridicule = reject them (even though they knew the right answer)

Question 16

How did group size affect Asch’s experiment?

Answer 16

In 1956, Asch changed the group size:

• 1 confederate = conformity rate of 3%
• 2 confederates = conformity rate of 13%
• 3 confederates = conformity rate of 32%

Question 17

How did task difficulty affect Asch’s experiment?

Answer 17

In 1956, Asch adjusted task difficulty:
- test lines were more similar in length = level of conformity increased ( ISI more impact) –> uncertain situation so looked to others for confirmation

Question 18

How did unanimity affect Asch’s experiment?

Answer 18

• when unanimity (everyone agreed), conformity increased
• group was not unanimous (1 person gave different answer + went against majority) –> conformity rate dropped from 33% to 5%
• confederate gave different wrong answer = conformity rate dropped from 33% to 5%

Question 19

What are social roles?

Answer 19

Social roles are the behaviours expected if an individual who occupies a social position or status

Question 20

What was the main experiment to test social roles?

Answer 20

• Zimbardo (1973)
• procedure: investigate whether conformity to social roles would alter a person’s behaviour
• simulated prison in basement of Stanford University psych department
• 24 emotionally + psychologically stable young men volunteered and randomly assigned role of prisoner or guard = told to maintain order - no physical violence

Question 21

What were the findings from Z’s experiment?

Answer 21

• on 2nd day = prisoners tried to rebel = ripped off prison no.s + barricaded the cells
• guards became increasingly cruel + aggressive = verbal abuse –> became so aggressive, study ended after six days only instead of two weeks = severe distress + concern over psychological health of prisoners

Question 22

Explain the disads of Zimbardo’s experiment (social roles)

Answer 22

prisoners subjected to psychological harm:

• e.g. crying, rage, acute anxiety, screams
• Z didn’t expect the guards to behave this way = harm not anticipated
• violated their right to withdraw
• deception

Lack of objectivity + decrease validity:

• he conformed to the role of prison warden = became involved , tried to convince participant to be snitch = lost objectivity
• told by colleague to stop experiment = validity of findings can be questioned

Gender + cultural bias = sample was unrepresentative:

• all participants were white, young, middle class male students
• results can’t be generalised to women or other cultures

Demand characteristics:
- guards may have behaved the way they did = thought that Z wanted them to behave aggressively and cruel = study not valid

Individual differences:
- some guards didn’t conform = reluctant to be cruel
- other guards did conform = very abusive
= individual differences –> important in determining the extent to which participants will conform to social roles

Question 23

What were the disads of A’s experiment? (conformity)

Answer 23

• deception (participants believed taking part in test of perception)
• lack of informed consent
• psychological harm = stressful + embarassing situations
  HOWEVER
• necessary to deceive –> prevent demand characteristics/ make study invalid

Population validity:

• Asch (1951, 1956) = used volunteer sample –> behaviour may not represent a wider population
• population validity so results can’t be generalised

Gender + cultural bias:
only contained males (beta bias) = doesn’t represent female behaviour
- only included white American men = doesn’t reflect behaviour of other cultures
HOWEVER
- study has since been replicated w/ different samples + cultures = proven to be reliable

Mundane realism + ecological validity:

• task is artificial/ unlikely to occur in real life
• mundane realism = doesn’t reflect real life
• ecological validity = cannot be generalised to real life

Temporal validity:

• Asch (1951, 1956) may not have temporal validity (study reflects current time period)
• study conducted 80 yrs ago = more conformist then than now

Question 24

What are the disads of conformity?

Answer 24

Suggested third explanation fir conformity:

• ingrational conformtiy = similar to NSI
• need to impress/ gain favour rather than fear of rejection
• Kurosawa (1993) dispositional factors (i.e. personality traits) –> ppl w/ high self esteem = more resistant to conformity than ppl w/ low self esteem through locus of control having more of an impact