CONFORMITY

Question 1

what is the definition of conformity?

Answer 1

when someone adapts/changes their behaviour to fit in with a group

Question 2

what are the 3 different types of conformity?

Answer 2

compliance, internalisation and identification

Question 3

what is compliance?

Answer 3

when someone changes their beliefs/behaviour publicly but doesn’t change it in private (weakest type of conformity)

Question 4

what is an example of compliance conformity?

Answer 4

being vegetarian around your vegetarian friends but eating meat any other time

Question 5

what is the definition of identification?

Answer 5

changing your behaviour/beliefs temporarily to fit in with the group (short term change)

Question 6

what is an example of identification?

Answer 6

dressing in a certain style, the same as a group of people a college

Question 7

workers who conform to identification

Answer 7

police officers, teachers, nurses

Question 8

what is the definition of internalisation?

Answer 8

when behaviour/beliefs change in public and private (strongest type of conformity)

Question 9

what is an example of internalisation?

Answer 9

meeting new friends at college and chatting behaviours, hobbies, attitudes etc to fit in with them

Question 10

what are the 2 explanations for conformity?

Answer 10

normative social influence and informative social influence

Question 11

what is the definition of normative social influence?

Answer 11

the need to be liked by a group to feel accepted

Question 12

what is an example of normative social influence?

Answer 12

wearing all black because thats what the rest of the group does

Question 13

what are the feelings/ behaviour like when normative social influence occurs?

Answer 13

More likely to be affected if they feel their behaviour and attitudes do not align with the group, may cause anxiety which could cause an adjustment in behaviour

Question 14

what type of conformity is normative social influence associated with?

Answer 14

compliance and identification (emotional)

Question 15

what can normative social influence involve?

Answer 15

an individual going against their beliefs/opinions so they wont be rejected by the group

Question 16

what is the definition of informative social influence?

Answer 16

the need to know what to do if the individual is unsure of how to behave in certain situations

Question 17

what is an example of informative social influence?

Answer 17

teacher asking a question then looking around a classroom to see what the rest of the class has answered

Question 18

what are the feelings/ behaviour like when informative social influence occurs?

Answer 18

an individual is looking for guidance within a group since the group would know what to do which can lead to faulty decision making

Question 19

what type of conformity is informative social influence associated with?

Answer 19

internalisation (cognitive)

Question 20

what is a strength of normative social influence?

Answer 20

Good application ~ Schultz et al found that guests who received normative messages were significantly more likely to reuse towels than those in control conditions which means NSI can influence real behaviour in everyday settings

Question 21

what is a weakness of normative social influence?

Answer 21

• does not explain why some people resist NSI so it cannot be generalised to everyone
• most research is lab based which means low mundane realism which reduces external validity

Question 22

what is a strength of informative social influence?

Answer 22

supporting evidence ~ Jenness found that the second estimate moved closer to the group estimate, indicating ISI, thus the theory has validity

Question 23

what is a weakness of informative social influence?

Answer 23

• does not explain why some people resist ISI so it cannot be generalised to everyone
• most research is lab based which means low mundane realism which reduces external validity

Question 24

what did Asch investigate?

Answer 24

majority influence

Question 25

what was the sample of Asch's study?

Answer 25

123 US male students

Question 26

what was Asch's method?

Answer 26

participant was placed in a room with 6–8 confederates. They were shown a "reference line" and three comparison lines (A, B, C) and asked to identify the matching line aloud

Question 27

what did Asch find?

Answer 27

participants gave the wrong answer on 36.8% of the critical trials; 75% of participants conformed at least once

Question 28

what did Asch conclude?

Answer 28

people will conform to the majority even when the situation is unambiguous and that people conform due to NSI and ISI conformity to the majority is common but not inevitable since 25% of participants did not conform on any of the trials

Question 29

what is a strength of Asch's study?

Answer 29

Standardised procedure (eg same group of people per trial, same number of of trial) this makes the study replicable which means high consistency = high replicability

Question 30

what is a weakness of Asch's study?

Answer 30

Took place in 1940s when conformity was higher than usual due to aftermath of world war 2 and feminist movements so it lacks temporal validity

Question 31

what did Zimbardo investigate?

Answer 31

conformity to social roles (in guards and prisoners)

Question 32

what was the sample for Zimbardo's study and where did it take place?

Answer 32

24 US male students volunteered who were deemed emotionally stable Stanford Uni basement

Question 33

what was the method for Zimbardo's study

Answer 33

Those selected for prisoner group were arrested in their homes at random times whilst completely unaware of this happening (no consent for this). guards and prisoners then deindividualised and told to enforce prison rules with increasing aggression and authoritarianism

Question 34

how were the participants deindividualised in Zimbardos study?

Answer 34

Participants were encouraged to conform to their given social role. They were given a uniform to help reinforce this (guards = nightstick, keys, handcuffs, mirrored shades, khaki uniform) (prisoners = no shoes, shapeless smock with a sock hat to cover their heads)

Question 35

What did Zimbardo find?

Answer 35

- guards adapted with enthusiasm and began to harass prisoners within hours of the experiment beginning - Prisoners rebelled 2 days after by ripping uniform and swearing at guards but became more submissive which made guards more aggressive some prisoners became quiet and depressed, some prisoners became informants for the guards

Question 36

what did Zimbardo conclude?

Answer 36

- Social roles have a strong influence on people - Power corrupts the actions of people especially when there is legitimate environmental factors - Harsh institutions brutalise people which leads to deindiviidualisation

Question 37

what was a strength of Zimbardo's study?

Answer 37

- random allocation means that individual differences confound the results - Study could have mundane realism which is rare for an experiment ~ 90% of prisoners conversations were about prison life. Home life was rarely discussed

Question 38

what was a weakness of Zimbardo's study?

Answer 38

- high unethical ~ ended days earlier than it shouldve: informed consent = not fully given from "prisoners", psychological harm = barely any protection from harm ~"prisoners" believed it was real, some suffered PTSD - Demand characteristics meant that the participants may have guessed the aims of the experiment and behaved like their specific role which lowers validity