A-LEVEL PSYCHOLOGY AQA PAPER 1

Kelman - 1958. Proposed three types of conformity. Conformity - Yielding to group pressure. Behavior and/or beliefs are influenced by a larger group of people. Internalization - Public and private. Validation process. Change own beliefs. Identification - Accept influence to establish a relationship with a group. To feel part of a group. Internalization and compliance. Compliance - Public not private. No change in personal opinion. To fain approval. To fit in with a group Informational social influence - A type of internalization. Accepts information from others as evidence about reality. More confidence in their beliefs. Normative social influence - Go along with the majority without accepting their point of view whilst believing that they are under surveillance by the group. Evaluation of types of conformity - Difficulties in distinguishing between compliance and internalization. Research support for normative social influence - Linkenbach and Perkins (2003) Research support for informational influence - Wittenbrink and Henley (1996) Normative influence may not be detected - Nolan et al (2008) Informational influence is moderated by task type Asch - 1956. Tested conformity. Tested 123 male US undergraduates. Groups of all but one confederate. Asked to identify the two of three lines that were the same length. The real participant answered second to last. In different conditions ("critical trials" 12/18 trials) the confederates were instructed to give the same incorrect answer. On the 12 critical tasks the average conformity rate was 33%. ¼ never conformed in any of the critical trials. ½ conformed in six or more of the critical trials. ¹∕₂₀ conformed in all 12 critical tasks. In control conditions (confederates not answering wrong) participants made mistakes about 1% of the time. Evaluation of Asch - Asch's research may be a child of its time - Perrin and Spencer (1980) Problems with determining the effect of group size - Bond (2005) Independent behavior rather than conformity. Unconvincing confederates. Cultural differences in conformity - Smith et al (2006) Perrin and Spencer - 1980. Attempted to repeat Asch's study in the UK using science and engineering students. They only obtained one conforming response out of 396 trials. In a subsequent study (youths on probation and probation officers as participants and confederates respectively) hey found that conformity was more likely to occur if the perceived cost of not performing was greater. Bond - 2005. Suggests a limitation of research in conformity is that studies have only a limited range of majority sizes. No studies other than Asch have used a greater majority than 9 so in reality very little is known about the effect of larger majority sizes on conformity. Group size - How large or small a group of participants is. Unanimity - Where everyone agrees. Task difficulty - How easy or hard a part of an experiment is. Variables affecting conformity - Group size, Unanimity, Task difficulty Stanford prison experiment - 1973. Aimed to investigate how readily people would conform to social roles of guard and prisoner in a role-playing exercise that simulated prison life. 21 male university student volunteers were allocated social roles (either prisoner or guard). The prisoners were dehumanized ("arrested", delousing procedure, prison number). Zimbardo took the role of prison superintendent. The prisoners and guards quickly identified with their roles with the guards becoming tyrannical and abusive towards the prisoners who became passive. Experiment was stopped after 6 days (planned 2 weeks).