Emily
Robinsom
Social influence
Psychology paper 1
Conformity
Conformity is the tendency to change what we do, think or say in response to the influence of
real or imagined pressure from others.
Types of conformity:
Compliance - This is where a person goes along with others to gain their approval.Their public
views will change but their private views and behaviour will remain the same. This is only a
superficial change.
Internalisation - This is where a person goes along with others because they have accepted and
come to agree with their point of view. Their public and private views change. This Is likely to
be a permanent change.
Identification - This is where a person goes along with others in order to be associated with a
particular group. They adopt the group's attitudes and behaviours.
, 2
Explanations for conformity
Normative social influence (NSI) is where a person conforms in order to be accepted and
belong to a group. They do this because it is socially rewarding and/or to avoid social rejection
😃 Asch (1951) found that many of his participants went along with a clearly wrong answer just
because other people did. When he asked why some participants said they felt self-conscious
giving the correct answer as they feared disapproval. When asch repeated the study and got
participants to write down their answers conformity rates fell from 33% to 12.5%. This shows
that need for approval and fear of rejection can lead to conformity.
😃 NSI has successfully manipulated people to behave more responsibly in terms of energy
conservation. Schultz (2008) used printed messages to encourage hotel guests to reuse their bath
towels to save energy. The messages that suggested other guests were reusing their bath towels
were the most successful. This suggests that guests changed their behaviour to fit in with other
guests showing positive real life applications of NSI.
☹️ However, research shows that NSI does not affect all individuals the same way. Affiliators
are more likely to be affected by NSI. This is supported by McGhee and Teevan (1967) who
found that students in need of affiliation were more likely to conform, showing that there are
individual differences in the extent to which people are affected by NSI.
Informational social influence (ISI) occurs when an individual accepts information from others
as evidence about reality. ISI is more likely if the situation is ambiguous. The individual does not
just comply with behaviour alone but also changes their behaviour and ISI usually leads to
internalisation.
😃 Studies have demonstrated how exposure to other people’s bel;iefs has an important
influence on social stereotypes. Wittenbrink and Henley (1996) found tat participants exposed to
negative information about african americans later reported more negative beliefs about a black
individual, suggesting that they had internalised these views.
😃 ISI can shape political opinion. Fein (2007) demonstrated how judgements of candidate
performance in US presidential debates could be influenced by knowledge of others’ reactions.
Participants saw the reaction of their fellow participants on screen during the debate. This
produced large shifts in participants’ judgements of the candidates’ performance. This research
supports the role of ISI in changing opinions.
Robinsom
Social influence
Psychology paper 1
Conformity
Conformity is the tendency to change what we do, think or say in response to the influence of
real or imagined pressure from others.
Types of conformity:
Compliance - This is where a person goes along with others to gain their approval.Their public
views will change but their private views and behaviour will remain the same. This is only a
superficial change.
Internalisation - This is where a person goes along with others because they have accepted and
come to agree with their point of view. Their public and private views change. This Is likely to
be a permanent change.
Identification - This is where a person goes along with others in order to be associated with a
particular group. They adopt the group's attitudes and behaviours.
, 2
Explanations for conformity
Normative social influence (NSI) is where a person conforms in order to be accepted and
belong to a group. They do this because it is socially rewarding and/or to avoid social rejection
😃 Asch (1951) found that many of his participants went along with a clearly wrong answer just
because other people did. When he asked why some participants said they felt self-conscious
giving the correct answer as they feared disapproval. When asch repeated the study and got
participants to write down their answers conformity rates fell from 33% to 12.5%. This shows
that need for approval and fear of rejection can lead to conformity.
😃 NSI has successfully manipulated people to behave more responsibly in terms of energy
conservation. Schultz (2008) used printed messages to encourage hotel guests to reuse their bath
towels to save energy. The messages that suggested other guests were reusing their bath towels
were the most successful. This suggests that guests changed their behaviour to fit in with other
guests showing positive real life applications of NSI.
☹️ However, research shows that NSI does not affect all individuals the same way. Affiliators
are more likely to be affected by NSI. This is supported by McGhee and Teevan (1967) who
found that students in need of affiliation were more likely to conform, showing that there are
individual differences in the extent to which people are affected by NSI.
Informational social influence (ISI) occurs when an individual accepts information from others
as evidence about reality. ISI is more likely if the situation is ambiguous. The individual does not
just comply with behaviour alone but also changes their behaviour and ISI usually leads to
internalisation.
😃 Studies have demonstrated how exposure to other people’s bel;iefs has an important
influence on social stereotypes. Wittenbrink and Henley (1996) found tat participants exposed to
negative information about african americans later reported more negative beliefs about a black
individual, suggesting that they had internalised these views.
😃 ISI can shape political opinion. Fein (2007) demonstrated how judgements of candidate
performance in US presidential debates could be influenced by knowledge of others’ reactions.
Participants saw the reaction of their fellow participants on screen during the debate. This
produced large shifts in participants’ judgements of the candidates’ performance. This research
supports the role of ISI in changing opinions.
