Social influence- Types of conformit
• Conformity: occurs when a large group of people influence a smaller group of people.
• Compliance: a change in behaviour but not beliefs. (public opinion changes, private does
• Internalisation: a change in behaviour and beliefs. Taken on the views of someone else’s
they’ve become your own views (public and private opinion changes)
• Identification: a change in behaviour and beliefs in order to become like a group/ individ
(public and private opinion changes)
Explanation for conformity
• Explanations: identified by Deutsch and Gerald (1955).
• Normative social influence: following the crowd, they want to be liked by other membe
the group and avoid being rejected. It’s not likely to change private opinion.
• Informational social influence: accepting the majority’s point of view, they perceive
someone as superior in knowledge or judgement, it leads to a change in private opinion.
Variables affecting conformity (Asch)
• Aim: Asch wanted to know whether people would conform to the majority opinion was
obviously incorrect.
, • Procedure: he had 7 participants, all but 1 were confederates. All confederates
conformed to the first confederate. In the control, there were no confederates. In the
critical trial, the confederates said the wrong answer to see if the participant would
conform.
• Findings: in control conditions, 0% incorrect answers were given (task was easy)
• 37% have the wrong answer in the critical trial
• 75% conformed to at least one wrong answer
• 5% conformed to all the wrong answers
• Temporal validity: do the findings change overtime.
• Evaluation: it’s accurate, there’s clear, concise findings so we can make conclusions
conformity.
• Low ecological validity: simple tasks, unusual environment
• High temporal validity: people want to fit in and feel comfortable
• The sample was very specific- ignored 50% of the population
• Situational variables: factors that are linked to the situation or environment that a
said to have an effect on conformity.
Group size
• Conformity: Asch found that conformity increases with group size until it reaches a
certain point (1956)
• Conformity: occurs when a large group of people influence a smaller group of people.
• Compliance: a change in behaviour but not beliefs. (public opinion changes, private does
• Internalisation: a change in behaviour and beliefs. Taken on the views of someone else’s
they’ve become your own views (public and private opinion changes)
• Identification: a change in behaviour and beliefs in order to become like a group/ individ
(public and private opinion changes)
Explanation for conformity
• Explanations: identified by Deutsch and Gerald (1955).
• Normative social influence: following the crowd, they want to be liked by other membe
the group and avoid being rejected. It’s not likely to change private opinion.
• Informational social influence: accepting the majority’s point of view, they perceive
someone as superior in knowledge or judgement, it leads to a change in private opinion.
Variables affecting conformity (Asch)
• Aim: Asch wanted to know whether people would conform to the majority opinion was
obviously incorrect.
, • Procedure: he had 7 participants, all but 1 were confederates. All confederates
conformed to the first confederate. In the control, there were no confederates. In the
critical trial, the confederates said the wrong answer to see if the participant would
conform.
• Findings: in control conditions, 0% incorrect answers were given (task was easy)
• 37% have the wrong answer in the critical trial
• 75% conformed to at least one wrong answer
• 5% conformed to all the wrong answers
• Temporal validity: do the findings change overtime.
• Evaluation: it’s accurate, there’s clear, concise findings so we can make conclusions
conformity.
• Low ecological validity: simple tasks, unusual environment
• High temporal validity: people want to fit in and feel comfortable
• The sample was very specific- ignored 50% of the population
• Situational variables: factors that are linked to the situation or environment that a
said to have an effect on conformity.
Group size
• Conformity: Asch found that conformity increases with group size until it reaches a
certain point (1956)
