A change in belief or behavior in
order to fit in. in response to real
or imagined group pressure.
Two causes
Normative social
influence is the desire to
be liked, not wanting to
appear foolish or left out
Informational social
influence is the desire to be
right, looking to others who
we believe have more info.
Two types
compliance
when a person conforms out
loud (publicly) with the views of
behaviors expressed by others.
continue to privately disagree.
Internalisation
views of the group are internalised
deeply and permanently.
Views become personal
Studies
Sherif 1935
Demonstrated that people
conform to group norms when put
into an ambiguous situation. He
used the autokinetic effect.
First individually tested pts then
manipulated groups of three.
Group converged to
a similar estimate.
Asch 1951
Saw problems
with sherifs study
No correct answer
Used the line judgement task. He put a naive
participant in a room full of confederates. The
answer was always obvious.
75% participants conformed with
the confederates on at least one trial
Factors affecting
conformity
Perrin and Spencer
Suggested Aschs study
was a child of its time
Carried out a replication using
engineering, mathematics and
chemistry students.
Only 1/396 trials did
a observer conform.
A cultural change
has taken place
Private or public
Gender
Difficulty of task
individual confidence
Zimbardo et al
To see whether people will
conform to new social roles.
Male psychology students. called off after 6
days. They conformed to social roles and
changed their behaviors. guards became too
brutal. prisoners became too distressed.