Types of conformity
Compliance
- Weakest type of conformity
- Public change in behaviour/attitude
- Short-term change
e.g. I eat vegan food at my friend’s house to ‘fit in’ but get a kebab on the way
home.
Identification
- Moderate type of conformity
- Public and private change in behaviour/attitude
- Short-term change, whilst in the presence of the group
e.g. I go to my vegan friend’s house. I listen and agree with their reasoning for
being vegan and I adopt a vegan diet. I then move out of the city and lose
contact with the vegan friend, eventually reverting to eating meat.
Internalisation
- Strongest type of conformity
- Public and private change in behaviour/attitude
- Long-term, the change continues even without the presence of the group
e.g. I got to my vegan friend’s house. I listen and agree with their reasoning for
being vegan and I adopt a vegan diet. My diet remains the same even when I
move out of the city and lose contact with the friend.
Explanations of conformity
Informational social influence (ISI)
- The desire to be right
- Affected by self-confidence and task difficulty:
a. As self-confidence decreases, ISI increases.
b. As task difficulty increases, ISI increases.
- Leads to internalisation
Evaluation of the role of ISI in conformity
{Jenness provides research support for the notion of ISI’s role in conformity}
- Jenness (1932) gave participants a jar of jellybeans and asked them to
individually estimate the number of jellybeans inside.
- He assembled participants into groups of 3 and asked them to provide a
group estimate.
- After the group discussion, the participants were asked once again to
individually estimate the number of beans in the jar.
- Most participants adjusted their individual answer to align with the
previous group response. This is presumably because they wanted to give
the correct answer.
{Lucas et al. provides support for ISI playing a role in conformity}
- Lucas et al. (2006) asked students to verbally give answers to
mathematical questions.
- The questions ranged in difficulty from easy to hard.
- Students were significantly more likely to conform to an incorrect answer
when the question was difficult.
- This study shows that people conform in situations when they feel as
though they do not know the answer.
, Normative social influence (NSI)
- The desire to be liked
- Moderated by group size and social support:
a. As social support decreases, NSI increases.
b. As group size increases, NSI increases.
- Leads to identification and compliance.
Evaluation of the role of NSI in conformity
{Asch offers research support for the idea that NSI affects conformity}
- When Asch asked participants why they had conformed during the line
experiment, most responded that they did not want to look foolish among
their peers. Therefore, their actions were largely governed by the desire to
be liked.
[Counter-argument]
- Some of Asch’s participants conformed because they genuinely believed
that the majority was correct (ISI).
Evaluation for conformity explanations
{It is very difficult to untangle the effects of ISI and NSI; they usually work hand
in hand}
- For instance, imagine you and your peers cannot find a lecture hall on the
first day of university. You may follow your classmates to the lecture hall,
even if you think that they are going the wrong way.
- This is because you do not want to be late to class, and you might think
that they have a better sense of direction than you (ISI).
- You also do not want to go against the group because you want to make
new friends (NSI).
Asch’s study
Aim
To measure conformity
Procedure
- Asch’s sample consisted of 50 male Americans who believed that they
were taking part in a vision test.
- Each participant was seated around a table as one of a group; unknown to
the participant, all the other ‘participants’ were confederates.
- Each group was shown a pair of cards. One card had a target on it. The
other card had 3 lines of differing length. Participants had to say which of
the 3 lines matched exactly the target line. The correct answer was always
obvious.
- The confederates unanimously gave the same incorrect answer on 12 of
the 18 trials.
- Answers were given out loud, in turn, and the real participant always
answered second to last.
Findings
- In 32% of the critical trials, the wrong answers given by the confederates
was also given by the real participant.
- Post-experiment interviews showed that:
c. Most participants who conformed said that it was because they did
not want to be in the minority in case of exclusion by the group
(NSI).
Compliance
- Weakest type of conformity
- Public change in behaviour/attitude
- Short-term change
e.g. I eat vegan food at my friend’s house to ‘fit in’ but get a kebab on the way
home.
Identification
- Moderate type of conformity
- Public and private change in behaviour/attitude
- Short-term change, whilst in the presence of the group
e.g. I go to my vegan friend’s house. I listen and agree with their reasoning for
being vegan and I adopt a vegan diet. I then move out of the city and lose
contact with the vegan friend, eventually reverting to eating meat.
Internalisation
- Strongest type of conformity
- Public and private change in behaviour/attitude
- Long-term, the change continues even without the presence of the group
e.g. I got to my vegan friend’s house. I listen and agree with their reasoning for
being vegan and I adopt a vegan diet. My diet remains the same even when I
move out of the city and lose contact with the friend.
Explanations of conformity
Informational social influence (ISI)
- The desire to be right
- Affected by self-confidence and task difficulty:
a. As self-confidence decreases, ISI increases.
b. As task difficulty increases, ISI increases.
- Leads to internalisation
Evaluation of the role of ISI in conformity
{Jenness provides research support for the notion of ISI’s role in conformity}
- Jenness (1932) gave participants a jar of jellybeans and asked them to
individually estimate the number of jellybeans inside.
- He assembled participants into groups of 3 and asked them to provide a
group estimate.
- After the group discussion, the participants were asked once again to
individually estimate the number of beans in the jar.
- Most participants adjusted their individual answer to align with the
previous group response. This is presumably because they wanted to give
the correct answer.
{Lucas et al. provides support for ISI playing a role in conformity}
- Lucas et al. (2006) asked students to verbally give answers to
mathematical questions.
- The questions ranged in difficulty from easy to hard.
- Students were significantly more likely to conform to an incorrect answer
when the question was difficult.
- This study shows that people conform in situations when they feel as
though they do not know the answer.
, Normative social influence (NSI)
- The desire to be liked
- Moderated by group size and social support:
a. As social support decreases, NSI increases.
b. As group size increases, NSI increases.
- Leads to identification and compliance.
Evaluation of the role of NSI in conformity
{Asch offers research support for the idea that NSI affects conformity}
- When Asch asked participants why they had conformed during the line
experiment, most responded that they did not want to look foolish among
their peers. Therefore, their actions were largely governed by the desire to
be liked.
[Counter-argument]
- Some of Asch’s participants conformed because they genuinely believed
that the majority was correct (ISI).
Evaluation for conformity explanations
{It is very difficult to untangle the effects of ISI and NSI; they usually work hand
in hand}
- For instance, imagine you and your peers cannot find a lecture hall on the
first day of university. You may follow your classmates to the lecture hall,
even if you think that they are going the wrong way.
- This is because you do not want to be late to class, and you might think
that they have a better sense of direction than you (ISI).
- You also do not want to go against the group because you want to make
new friends (NSI).
Asch’s study
Aim
To measure conformity
Procedure
- Asch’s sample consisted of 50 male Americans who believed that they
were taking part in a vision test.
- Each participant was seated around a table as one of a group; unknown to
the participant, all the other ‘participants’ were confederates.
- Each group was shown a pair of cards. One card had a target on it. The
other card had 3 lines of differing length. Participants had to say which of
the 3 lines matched exactly the target line. The correct answer was always
obvious.
- The confederates unanimously gave the same incorrect answer on 12 of
the 18 trials.
- Answers were given out loud, in turn, and the real participant always
answered second to last.
Findings
- In 32% of the critical trials, the wrong answers given by the confederates
was also given by the real participant.
- Post-experiment interviews showed that:
c. Most participants who conformed said that it was because they did
not want to be in the minority in case of exclusion by the group
(NSI).
