Conformity:

Compliance: Publicly, but not privately going along with majority influence to gain approval/avoid ridicule. Weak/temporary and only shown in presence of group.
Conformity: results from exposure to the majority position and leads to compliance with that position. It’s the tendency for people to adopt the behaviour, attitudes and values of other members of a reference group.
Internalisation: true conformity Public and private acceptance of majority influence, through adoption of the majority group’s belief system. Stronger, permanent form of conformity, as it is maintained outside of the group’s presence.
Identification: Public and private acceptance of majority influence in order to gain group acceptance. Stronger form of conformity, but still temporary- not maintained outside of the group.

Explanations to why we conform:

Informational social influence: a form of influence, which is the result of a desire to be right-looking to others as a way of gaining evidence about reality.
ISI: Need for certainty. Subjective uncertainty. Need for information. Refer to social group. Private beliefs are likely to change along with public behaviour. Internalisation.
Normative social influence: individual conforms with the expectations of the majority in order to gain approval or to avoid social disapproval.
NSI: Need for acceptance or approval. Power of social group to reward or punish. Conflict between self & group opinion/behaviour. Public behaviour is likely to diverge from private beliefs. Compliance.

Jenness' study:

First studies by Sherif: people use the behaviour of others to decide what to do.
Procedure: He had a jar of jelly beans and asked participants individually to estimate how many beans the bottle contained. Jenness then put the group in a room with the bottle, and asked them to provide a group estimate through discussion.
Pts were then asked to estimate the number on their own again to find whether their initial estimates had altered based on the influence of the majority. Jenness then interviewed the participants individually again, and asked if they would like to change their original estimates, or stay with the group's estimate. Almost all changed their individual guesses to be closer to the group estimate.

Aschs study:

Aim: investigate the effects of social influence on conformity, by seeing how a lone ‘real’ pt would react to the behaviour of confederates.
Method: 123 American male student volunteers Study on visual perception Groups. 7-9 confederates, real participant last or last but one. Comparison line A, B, C matched stimulus line 12 out of 18 trials- confederates gave identical wrong answer. Control group, 36 participants, tested individually on 20 trials.
Results: Control group - 3 mistakes out of 720 trials 12 critical trials - 33% (1/3) conformed to wrong answers ¼ never conformed ½ conformed on 6 or more of the trials 1 in 20 conformed on all 12 of the critical trials.
Conclusion: Judgements affected by majority opinions, even when wrong. Wide individual differences in the extent participants are affected due to variables such as group size, the unanimity of the majority and the difficulty of the task. Normative social influence – conformed publically not privately. Conformed to gain acceptance and to avoid rejection.
Variables affecting conformity: Group size. The unanimity of the majority and the difficulty of the task.
- Evaluation: Independent behaviour rather than conformity: 1/3 of the trials where the majority unanimously gave the same wrong answer produced a conforming response. 2/3 of the trials pt's stuck to their original judgement despite the majority giving a different answer.
- Evaluation: child of his time: took place at a time in US history when conformity was high. In 1956 the US was gripped by McCarthyism, a strong anti communist period when people were scared to go against the majority. Perrin and spencer studies students and youths of probation. those in probation conformed whereas 1 in 396 conformed in the students. Conformity is more likely if the perceived costs of not conforming are high which would have been the case during the McCarthy era.

	Created by briony findlay over 8 years ago

AS - Level Psychology (NOTE VERSIONS AS) Note on Social influence , created by briony findlay on 07/05/2016.