SOCIAL INFLUENCE
1. TYPES OF CONFORMITY
• AO1 – 3 main types: compliance, identification and internalization proposed by
Kelman
• Conformity is a change in a person’s behavior or opinions because of real or
imagined pressure from a person or a group of people
• Compliance – A change in views or actions to fit in with the group but doesn't
result in a change in the person’s underlying beliefs
• Identification – When someone conforms to the opinions or behaviours of a
group because there is something about the group they value so they identify
with the group
• Internalization – When someone accepts a groups opinions and actions and
displays this publicly and privately through opinions and behaviours
permanently
2. EXPLANATIONS FOR CONFORMITY
• AO1 – Two types – normative social influence and informational social influence
• What is normative social influence – when a person conforms to be accepted
and feel that they belong to that group
• Occurs when we wish to be liked by the majority group so we go along with them
even though we may not agree with them – to fit in with the norm and be liked
• They conform because it may be socially rewarding or to avoid social rejection –
associated with compliance and identification – motivated by the desire to fit in
with the majority
• What is informational social influence – a person conforms to gain knowledge or
because they believe someone else is right
• Occurs when we look to the majority for information as we are unsure about the
way to behave and believe the majority are right
• Desire to be correct
• One strength of explanations for conformity is research support from Fein et al
on informational social influence. He asked participants to vote for a US
presidential canidate after they saw others vote for someone else and most
participants changed their mind as they wanted to be correct. This is a strength
because this validates the idea that informational social influence can be a
mechanism for conformity giving this explanation internal validity.
• One weakness of explanations for conformtiy is individual differences arent
taken into account. For normative social influence, research is found that not
, everyone behaves similarly which contradicts the idea. This is because some
may not worry about other peoples perception of them and are less affected by
normative social influence. However, some are nAffiliators and care more about
being liked by others which makes them more likely to conform. This is a
strength because it suggests that this explanation is reductionist showing it
reduces us down to our simplistic form assuming we all conform to others.
However, not everyone is affected due to factors such as life experiences and
feelings of self worth which affect our desire to be liked.
• One strength of explanations of conformity is most research supporting is
controlled. This allows the researchers to control the independent and
dependent variables reducing any extraneous variables that may influence or
skew the results. This is a strength because this gives confidence in the findings
that they are due to the true behaviour and conformity of individuals and that
they are not skewed by extraneous variables giving this explanation scientific
credibility.
3. VARIABLES AFFECTING CONFORMITY INVESTIGATED BY ASCH
• AO1 (STUDY) – Aschs aim was to investigate the extent to which social pressure
from a majority group could influence an individual to conform, specifically by
adopting an obviously incorrect answer
• He obtained American students that were male from an advertisement for a
study about visual perception
• Each group had 7/8 confederates with 1 naive participant where they had to do a
line matching task shown 3 lines on the right and 1 line on the left asking which
of the 3 lines were the most similar
• 18 trials per group, the confederates gave the right answer on the first few trials
and 12 critical trials where each confederate gave the same incorrect answer to
the question of the line length
• Found 75% of participants conformed at least once, 25% never conformed
• Concluded people will conform to the majority even when the situation is
ambiguous
• Concluded some conform due to NSI to fit in and ISI because they believe the
group is better informed
• AO1 (VARIABLE – GROUP SIZE) - To test the effect of group size Asch used one
confederate who gave the wrong answer and found conformity dropped down to
3% in the critical trials
• When group size increased to 2 confederates conformity rose to 12.8% in the
critical trials
,• When group size increased to 3 confederates conformity rose to 31.8% in the
critical trials
• Showing conformity peaks with three confederates as it establishes majority
pressure
• AO1 ( VARIABLE – UNANIMITY) - Unanimity refers to the extent of agreement
across a group
• To test the effect of unanimity Asch asked one of the confederates to give the
right answer which made conformity fall to 5%
• Shows support from another individual makes it easier to resist the pressure to
conform to the majority
• In another variation one of the confederates gave a different incorrect answer to
the majority dropping conformity down to 9%
• AO1 - (VARIABLE – TASK DIFFICULTY) - To test the effect of task difficulty Asch
made the task more difficult by minimising the difference between the length of
the lines and the task became more ambigiuous
• He found the rate of conformity increased showing people may conform to the
incorrect answer as a result of ISI because the task is difficult
• One weakness of Asch’s study of conformity is its ethnocentric. He used a
biased sample of American students where we cannot assume that other
ethnicities such as Asians would behave similarly due to the diversity in cultures
in the modern day. This is a weakness because this makes the study low in
population validity as we cant generalise findings to non western cultures or
other ethnicities because we arent certain theyd behave similarly. Additionally,
it may lead to labelling of abnormality if its generalised to non Americans where
they may deviate from findings making it inappropriate to apply to real life
situations
• One weakness of Asch’s study of conformity is its androcentric. He used a
sample full of males making it androcentric where this study is considered beta
biased as it minimises differences between men and women. It assumes that
men and women behave similarly in conformity however we cannot conclude
that. This is a weakness because if generalised to the whole population and
women deviate from findings women may be marginalised where their
behaviour may be pathologised and abnormal. This can lead women to be
discriminated against where they may not get the same opportunities as men
and may be denied services such as hospitality.
• One weakness of Asch’s study of conformity is low ecological validity. It was a
line judgement task involving judging lines done in a controlled artificial
, location. Its not reflective of real life conformity as it often involves social
situations with peers and doesnt reflect familiar environments where they
occur. This is a weakness because its low in ecological validity and its unreliable
for using to predict real life behaviour as it lacks realism in everyday life
• One strength of Asch’s study of conformity is its high in internal validity. He
manipulated the independent variable and controlled extraneous variables
keeping variables constant such as number of confederates. It was also highly
controlled which allow researchers to establish a causation relationship that
conformity was due to group pressure. This is a strength because this makes the
findings scientifically credible and high in internal validity as we can be sure that
findings are due to group pressure rather than other factors due to the control of
variables.
• One strength of Asch’s study of conformity is uses of both qualitative and
quantitative data. He reported how often people conformed but also interviewed
participants to see why they conformed or resisted where some answered in
answers such as self doubt or not wanting to stand out. This is a strength
because it shows conformity isnt a mechanical behaviour involving multiple
motivations allowing richer theories of social influence to form.
• One weakness of Asch’s study of conformity is ethical issues. Participants were
deeived into believing they were taking part in a vision test and not a study on
conformity. Furthermore, they werent protected from harm as many participants
felt stressed when they disagreed with the majority. This is a weakness because
the anxiety and deception of the nature of the study could have influenced their
behaviour and desire to conform more greater where findings could have been
skewed due to stress.
• One strength of Asch's study of conformity is real life application. Organisations
in meetings now implement devils advocate where its an individual deliberately
assigned to argue against the prevailing opinion regardless of personal views
creating dissent that encourages critical evaluation of ideas. Its also used in
legal proceedings that use anonymous voting methods. This is a strength as its
reflective of Asch's findings that private responses reduce conformity pressures
and low unanimity reduces conformity. It suggests his findings have been used
to produce critical and truthful ideas.
4. ZIMBARDO AND CONFORMITY TO SOCIAL ROLES
• AO1 – Zimbardo wanted to investigate how people would conform to assigned
social roles of guard and prisoner in a simulated prison
• Converted a basement of Stanford University into a mock prison
1. TYPES OF CONFORMITY
• AO1 – 3 main types: compliance, identification and internalization proposed by
Kelman
• Conformity is a change in a person’s behavior or opinions because of real or
imagined pressure from a person or a group of people
• Compliance – A change in views or actions to fit in with the group but doesn't
result in a change in the person’s underlying beliefs
• Identification – When someone conforms to the opinions or behaviours of a
group because there is something about the group they value so they identify
with the group
• Internalization – When someone accepts a groups opinions and actions and
displays this publicly and privately through opinions and behaviours
permanently
2. EXPLANATIONS FOR CONFORMITY
• AO1 – Two types – normative social influence and informational social influence
• What is normative social influence – when a person conforms to be accepted
and feel that they belong to that group
• Occurs when we wish to be liked by the majority group so we go along with them
even though we may not agree with them – to fit in with the norm and be liked
• They conform because it may be socially rewarding or to avoid social rejection –
associated with compliance and identification – motivated by the desire to fit in
with the majority
• What is informational social influence – a person conforms to gain knowledge or
because they believe someone else is right
• Occurs when we look to the majority for information as we are unsure about the
way to behave and believe the majority are right
• Desire to be correct
• One strength of explanations for conformity is research support from Fein et al
on informational social influence. He asked participants to vote for a US
presidential canidate after they saw others vote for someone else and most
participants changed their mind as they wanted to be correct. This is a strength
because this validates the idea that informational social influence can be a
mechanism for conformity giving this explanation internal validity.
• One weakness of explanations for conformtiy is individual differences arent
taken into account. For normative social influence, research is found that not
, everyone behaves similarly which contradicts the idea. This is because some
may not worry about other peoples perception of them and are less affected by
normative social influence. However, some are nAffiliators and care more about
being liked by others which makes them more likely to conform. This is a
strength because it suggests that this explanation is reductionist showing it
reduces us down to our simplistic form assuming we all conform to others.
However, not everyone is affected due to factors such as life experiences and
feelings of self worth which affect our desire to be liked.
• One strength of explanations of conformity is most research supporting is
controlled. This allows the researchers to control the independent and
dependent variables reducing any extraneous variables that may influence or
skew the results. This is a strength because this gives confidence in the findings
that they are due to the true behaviour and conformity of individuals and that
they are not skewed by extraneous variables giving this explanation scientific
credibility.
3. VARIABLES AFFECTING CONFORMITY INVESTIGATED BY ASCH
• AO1 (STUDY) – Aschs aim was to investigate the extent to which social pressure
from a majority group could influence an individual to conform, specifically by
adopting an obviously incorrect answer
• He obtained American students that were male from an advertisement for a
study about visual perception
• Each group had 7/8 confederates with 1 naive participant where they had to do a
line matching task shown 3 lines on the right and 1 line on the left asking which
of the 3 lines were the most similar
• 18 trials per group, the confederates gave the right answer on the first few trials
and 12 critical trials where each confederate gave the same incorrect answer to
the question of the line length
• Found 75% of participants conformed at least once, 25% never conformed
• Concluded people will conform to the majority even when the situation is
ambiguous
• Concluded some conform due to NSI to fit in and ISI because they believe the
group is better informed
• AO1 (VARIABLE – GROUP SIZE) - To test the effect of group size Asch used one
confederate who gave the wrong answer and found conformity dropped down to
3% in the critical trials
• When group size increased to 2 confederates conformity rose to 12.8% in the
critical trials
,• When group size increased to 3 confederates conformity rose to 31.8% in the
critical trials
• Showing conformity peaks with three confederates as it establishes majority
pressure
• AO1 ( VARIABLE – UNANIMITY) - Unanimity refers to the extent of agreement
across a group
• To test the effect of unanimity Asch asked one of the confederates to give the
right answer which made conformity fall to 5%
• Shows support from another individual makes it easier to resist the pressure to
conform to the majority
• In another variation one of the confederates gave a different incorrect answer to
the majority dropping conformity down to 9%
• AO1 - (VARIABLE – TASK DIFFICULTY) - To test the effect of task difficulty Asch
made the task more difficult by minimising the difference between the length of
the lines and the task became more ambigiuous
• He found the rate of conformity increased showing people may conform to the
incorrect answer as a result of ISI because the task is difficult
• One weakness of Asch’s study of conformity is its ethnocentric. He used a
biased sample of American students where we cannot assume that other
ethnicities such as Asians would behave similarly due to the diversity in cultures
in the modern day. This is a weakness because this makes the study low in
population validity as we cant generalise findings to non western cultures or
other ethnicities because we arent certain theyd behave similarly. Additionally,
it may lead to labelling of abnormality if its generalised to non Americans where
they may deviate from findings making it inappropriate to apply to real life
situations
• One weakness of Asch’s study of conformity is its androcentric. He used a
sample full of males making it androcentric where this study is considered beta
biased as it minimises differences between men and women. It assumes that
men and women behave similarly in conformity however we cannot conclude
that. This is a weakness because if generalised to the whole population and
women deviate from findings women may be marginalised where their
behaviour may be pathologised and abnormal. This can lead women to be
discriminated against where they may not get the same opportunities as men
and may be denied services such as hospitality.
• One weakness of Asch’s study of conformity is low ecological validity. It was a
line judgement task involving judging lines done in a controlled artificial
, location. Its not reflective of real life conformity as it often involves social
situations with peers and doesnt reflect familiar environments where they
occur. This is a weakness because its low in ecological validity and its unreliable
for using to predict real life behaviour as it lacks realism in everyday life
• One strength of Asch’s study of conformity is its high in internal validity. He
manipulated the independent variable and controlled extraneous variables
keeping variables constant such as number of confederates. It was also highly
controlled which allow researchers to establish a causation relationship that
conformity was due to group pressure. This is a strength because this makes the
findings scientifically credible and high in internal validity as we can be sure that
findings are due to group pressure rather than other factors due to the control of
variables.
• One strength of Asch’s study of conformity is uses of both qualitative and
quantitative data. He reported how often people conformed but also interviewed
participants to see why they conformed or resisted where some answered in
answers such as self doubt or not wanting to stand out. This is a strength
because it shows conformity isnt a mechanical behaviour involving multiple
motivations allowing richer theories of social influence to form.
• One weakness of Asch’s study of conformity is ethical issues. Participants were
deeived into believing they were taking part in a vision test and not a study on
conformity. Furthermore, they werent protected from harm as many participants
felt stressed when they disagreed with the majority. This is a weakness because
the anxiety and deception of the nature of the study could have influenced their
behaviour and desire to conform more greater where findings could have been
skewed due to stress.
• One strength of Asch's study of conformity is real life application. Organisations
in meetings now implement devils advocate where its an individual deliberately
assigned to argue against the prevailing opinion regardless of personal views
creating dissent that encourages critical evaluation of ideas. Its also used in
legal proceedings that use anonymous voting methods. This is a strength as its
reflective of Asch's findings that private responses reduce conformity pressures
and low unanimity reduces conformity. It suggests his findings have been used
to produce critical and truthful ideas.
4. ZIMBARDO AND CONFORMITY TO SOCIAL ROLES
• AO1 – Zimbardo wanted to investigate how people would conform to assigned
social roles of guard and prisoner in a simulated prison
• Converted a basement of Stanford University into a mock prison
