Social influence - (the study of how people’s behaviours and attitudes are influenced by the presence
– actual or imagined – of other people):
Social groups:
- Two or more people who interact together
- Behave in similar ways and share similar opinions and traits in common so they share a
similar IDENTITY
- There are unwritten rules about the expectations of behaviour about what they should or
shouldn’t say
Social group = two or more people who interact together, share things in common, and share a
common identity
Social roles = behaviours and beliefs expected of a person with a particular position in a social group
Social norms = unwritten rules for how all members of a social group are expected to behave
Conformity:
Majority = it is the largest subgroup
Minority = the smallest group
No majority = when there is no difference in the groups
Private attitude = a person’s genuine belief or feeling about something is their private attitude
Public attitude = what a person tells other people they believe or feel
Conformity = when someone is in a minority group and they match their public attitude to that of
the majority meaning they have been influenced by the majority
Conform = private/ public attitude is influenced by the majority
Not conforming = not being influenced by the majority
Compliance = where a person conforms publicly, but not privately, to be accepted by a group and
avoid social rejection.
- Compliance is a weak form of conformity
Identification = when they adopt the behaviours and attitudes of social roles or role models that
they admire (they identified with them) and their attitudes are not long lasting
- Medium form of conformity
What does identification depend on? Identification depends on their attitudes on admiring the social
role or role model
Internalisation = conforms privately and publicly to an attitude and believes it is correct so they are
long lasting and hard to change
- Strong form of conformity
Situational Variables that affect conformity:
, Group size = conformity is increased when the group size is bigger, so conformity is lower when the
group size is smaller
Unanimity= conformity is increased when there is higher unanimity (more people with the same
opinion) so conformity is lower when the there is low unanimity
Task difficulty = conformity is increased when the task is more difficult so conformity is lowered
when the task is less difficult
Individual/dispositional variables = personal characteristics that affect conformity like personality,
gender, mood, culture
Situational variables = group size, task difficulty, unanimity
Situational variables = change the environment
Explanation for conformity: (normative social influence, informational social influence)
Normative social influence = people prefer to be normal and fit in so they are liked and accepted by
other people so people conform so they are liked and accepted by the group. They don’t necessarily
believe that the attitudes and behaviours that they adopt are correct. Their pubic and private
attitudes don’t match. Normative social influence is increased when there is a high social pressure to
conform.
Informational social influence = The explanation that says that people conform because they want to
be correct and they think the majority is correct is called informational social influence. Their private
and public attitudes will match because they really believe that majority is correct so they conform
privately as well as publicly.
Evaluation of normative social influence:
- Normative social inlfuence can explain compliance
- NSI can’t explain why people conform when social pressure is low
- It can explain why people conform when social pressure is high
Evaluation of informational social influence:
- If social pressure is low and uncertainty is high, conformity is best explained by informational
social influence
- ISI explains why people conform by internalisation and identification
Jenness’s Jelly Beans Experiment:
Jenness wanted to find out how group discussion affected the accuracy of peoples judgements
He first asked participants to make an estimate private judgement. People came up with a range of
estimates. Jenness asked privately how many jelly beans they think were in the jar and he told them
that the person with the most accurate answer would win a prize. He then let them discuss their
answers with each other and asked them what their judgment was after this discussion.
He compared the results and found that the estimates after the group discussion were far closer
together than the estimates before the group discussion suggesting that peoples judgements
conformed.
– actual or imagined – of other people):
Social groups:
- Two or more people who interact together
- Behave in similar ways and share similar opinions and traits in common so they share a
similar IDENTITY
- There are unwritten rules about the expectations of behaviour about what they should or
shouldn’t say
Social group = two or more people who interact together, share things in common, and share a
common identity
Social roles = behaviours and beliefs expected of a person with a particular position in a social group
Social norms = unwritten rules for how all members of a social group are expected to behave
Conformity:
Majority = it is the largest subgroup
Minority = the smallest group
No majority = when there is no difference in the groups
Private attitude = a person’s genuine belief or feeling about something is their private attitude
Public attitude = what a person tells other people they believe or feel
Conformity = when someone is in a minority group and they match their public attitude to that of
the majority meaning they have been influenced by the majority
Conform = private/ public attitude is influenced by the majority
Not conforming = not being influenced by the majority
Compliance = where a person conforms publicly, but not privately, to be accepted by a group and
avoid social rejection.
- Compliance is a weak form of conformity
Identification = when they adopt the behaviours and attitudes of social roles or role models that
they admire (they identified with them) and their attitudes are not long lasting
- Medium form of conformity
What does identification depend on? Identification depends on their attitudes on admiring the social
role or role model
Internalisation = conforms privately and publicly to an attitude and believes it is correct so they are
long lasting and hard to change
- Strong form of conformity
Situational Variables that affect conformity:
, Group size = conformity is increased when the group size is bigger, so conformity is lower when the
group size is smaller
Unanimity= conformity is increased when there is higher unanimity (more people with the same
opinion) so conformity is lower when the there is low unanimity
Task difficulty = conformity is increased when the task is more difficult so conformity is lowered
when the task is less difficult
Individual/dispositional variables = personal characteristics that affect conformity like personality,
gender, mood, culture
Situational variables = group size, task difficulty, unanimity
Situational variables = change the environment
Explanation for conformity: (normative social influence, informational social influence)
Normative social influence = people prefer to be normal and fit in so they are liked and accepted by
other people so people conform so they are liked and accepted by the group. They don’t necessarily
believe that the attitudes and behaviours that they adopt are correct. Their pubic and private
attitudes don’t match. Normative social influence is increased when there is a high social pressure to
conform.
Informational social influence = The explanation that says that people conform because they want to
be correct and they think the majority is correct is called informational social influence. Their private
and public attitudes will match because they really believe that majority is correct so they conform
privately as well as publicly.
Evaluation of normative social influence:
- Normative social inlfuence can explain compliance
- NSI can’t explain why people conform when social pressure is low
- It can explain why people conform when social pressure is high
Evaluation of informational social influence:
- If social pressure is low and uncertainty is high, conformity is best explained by informational
social influence
- ISI explains why people conform by internalisation and identification
Jenness’s Jelly Beans Experiment:
Jenness wanted to find out how group discussion affected the accuracy of peoples judgements
He first asked participants to make an estimate private judgement. People came up with a range of
estimates. Jenness asked privately how many jelly beans they think were in the jar and he told them
that the person with the most accurate answer would win a prize. He then let them discuss their
answers with each other and asked them what their judgment was after this discussion.
He compared the results and found that the estimates after the group discussion were far closer
together than the estimates before the group discussion suggesting that peoples judgements
conformed.
