SI- Explanations for Conformity

Question 1

Who proposed a theory to explain why people conform?

Answer 1

Deutsch and Gerrard

Question 2

Why do people conform?

Answer 2

1) Normative Social Influence

2) Informational Social Influence

Question 3

What is normative social influence?

Answer 3

• People have a fundamental need for social approval and acceptance.
• We therefore avoid any behaviour that will make others reject or ridicule us.
• This can lead us to copy the behaviour of others in order to ‘fit in’.
• Studies have shown that people like those who are similar to them and so conformity can be an effective strategy to ensure we fit in with a group.
• Normative social influence is likely to lead to compliance, where people will agree publically with the group but privately they do not change their personal opinions.

Question 4

What is informational social influence?

Answer 4

• People have a fundamental need to be right and to have an accurate perception of reality.
• Individuals may make objective tests against reality (e.g. check the facts) but if this is not possible they will rely on the opinions of others to check if they are correct and then use this as evidence about reality.
• Informational social influence is more likely to happen if the situation is ambiguous or when others are experts.
• Informational social influence leads to internalisation, where people publically AND privately change their opinions.

Question 5

Evaluate normative and informational social influence (ADVANTAGES)

Answer 5

1) Jenness (1932) asked participant to estimatehow many beans they thought were in a jar.
- Each participant had to make an individual estimate first, and then do the same as a group.
- He found that when the task was carried out in a group, the participants would report estimates of roughly the same value (even though they had previously reported quite different estimates as individuals).
- This is likely to be an example of informational social influence as participants would be uncertain about the actual number of beans in the jar and so be genuinely influenced by the group.

2) Asch (1951) asked participants to say which of three ‘test lines’ was the same as the ‘standard line’.
- The participants were in a group with confederates who purposefully gave the same wrong answer, even though the correct answer was obvious.
- In 33% of the trials the participants conformed to the group and gave the wrong answer (the chance of making a genuine mistake on this task was only 1%).
- Participants conformed due to normative social influence.
- After the experiment they claimed that they knew the correct answer but were worried that the group would ridicule them if they answered differently to everyone else.

3) Lucas et al 2006 asked students to solve easy and more difficult math questions. There was greater conformity when the maths question were harder and this was especially true for the students who rated their maths skills as being poor. This shows that we do look at other people and assume they are right when we are unsure/lack confidence in our own answer, in order to be right/ have the right information.

Question 6

Evaluate normative and informational social influence. (DISADVANTAGES)

Answer 6

1) Dispositional factors(i.e. personality traits) may also impact whether or not a person conforms.
- Kurosawa (1993) found that people with high self-esteem were far more resistant to conformity than those with low self-esteem.

2) NSI and ISI work together; for example in Asch’s line study the dissenter could have reduced NSI by providing social support or may have reduced ISI by proving alternative information. Even in everyday life both NSI and ISI can work together when making a decision on whether to conform or not, this suggests Deustch and Gerrad’s two process approach involves both NSI and ISI not one or the other.
3) Some people called nAffiliators have a greater need for being in a relationship with others, McGhee and Teevan (1967) found that students high in need of affiliation were more likely to conform. This suggests there are individual differences for NSI.