PSYCHOLOGY A LEVEL PAPER 1
Define compliance correct answersWhere you go along with the group in order to fit in even when you
don't believe in their view point, likely to be linked to NSI.
E.g. in the post-experiment discussions of Asch's study, most conforming participants claimed to have
went along with the wrong answer to avoid ridicule..
Define identification correct answersAdopting the views of a group both publicly and privately because
you value membership of that group. This is a stronger form of conformity, temporary and is not
maintained when individuals leave the group. For example, in the army you may adopt the behaviour
and beliefs of fellow soldiers, but on leaving the army for civilian life, new behaviours and opinions will
be adopted.
Define internalisation correct answers(True Conformity) Behaviour/belief of the majority is accepted by
the indivudal and becomes part of their own belief system. Lasts even when the majority isn't present.
Most likely to be linked to ISI.
Define conformity correct answersThe process of yielding to majority, when an individual is influence by
a majority group's views or behaviour
What are the different explanations for conformity? correct answersInformative Social Influence (ISI)
Normative Social Influence (NSI)
Variables affecting conformity (Investigated by Asch): Group size, Task Difficulty & Unanimity
Describe normative social influence correct answersWhen a person conforms to be accepted and to feel
as though they belong to a group. This usually occurs when conformity is socially rewarding or in order
to avoid social rejection.
Provide research support for normative social influence. (& year) correct answersAsch (1955) A line
judgement test where the matching line was obvious. Over the 12 critical trials (where the majority gave
the clearly incorrect answer) 75% of participants conformed at least once.
,Study shows that as conformity occurred in a non-ambiguous situation, normative influence was the
only explanation for the levels of conformity seen here.
Describe informational social influence correct answersExplains conformity that occurs out of a desire to
be right. Occurs in ambiguous situations where the correct answer or solution or way to behave isn't
clear.
Provide research support for informational social influence correct answersJenness (1932) Ambiguous
situation where participants had to estimate the number of beans in the jar. Found that. Individual
estimates moved towards the estimates of others showing that they privately believed the group
estimate over their original one. Thus displaying informational social influence.
Describe the procedure Asch's Original Research into Conformity. (1955) correct answers123 male
students
Participant answered last or 2nd to last to call out which of the three comparison lines matched the
standard line. Was only 1 true participant and other 6 were confederates.
Critical Trials: 12/18 trials where confederates provided the wrong answers.
How many participants took place in Asch's original study? correct answers123 American male students
What year did Asch's original study take place? correct answers1955
What was the task in Asch's original study? correct answersTo say which comparison line, A,B or C was
the same as the stimulus line on 18 different trials
Describe the control group in Asch's original study? correct answers36 participants who were tested
individually on 20 trials, to test how accurate individual judgements were
,What were the critical trials of Asch's original study? correct answers12 (out of 18 total trials) were
critical, which meant that the confederates gave identically wrong answers and the real participants
always answered last or second to last.
Describe the results of Asch's original study correct answers1. The control group had an error rate of less
than 1% demonstrates the obviousness of the answer
2. 32% conformity rate in the critical trials
3. 25% of participants never conformed at all
4. 5% of participants conformed every single time
What did the post-experiment discussions find in Asch's original study? correct answers- Majority of
conforming participants did so in order to avoid ridicule
- Some participants believed their perception was incorrect because they were told it was a visual
perception test (and so conformed)
- Some participants doubted themselves so conformed to the majority
What do the findings of Asch's original study show? correct answersEven when the majority is clearly
wrong, they still have influence over individuals.
Most participants conformed to avoid ridicule, i.e. normative social influence.
What are situational variables? correct answersFeatures of an environment the affect the degree to
which individuals yield to group pressures
What are individual variables? correct answersPersonal characteristics that affect the degree to which
individuals yield to group pressures
, Describe how group size affects majority influence correct answersRefers to the number of members
within a social group
As group size increases, conformity levels increase also.
Asch's variation: Found increases in conformity level until the group size reached 3 members, after this
amount, there was hardly any change to the levels of conformity levels.
Describe how unanimity affects majority influence correct answersUnanimity: Degree to which group
members are in agreement with each other
When the majority group is not unanimous, conformity levels drop.
Asch's variation: Conformity dropped to 5% when a confederate went against the other confederates.
Describe how the difficulty of a task may affect majority influence. Which explanation for conformity do
the results of Asch's variation support? correct answersHow obvious the correct decision/answer is
when regarding a task.
Asch's variation: The more similar in length the comparison lines were, the higher conformity levels
were.
Supports Informational Social Influence.
What happens to conformity levels when participants were allowed to write down their answers?
correct answersConformity drops to 12.5%, supporting Normative Social Influence because participants
were avoiding ridicule from the majority group,
Describe how gender (an individual variable) may affect conformity correct answersGender: Eagly
suggested that due to gender roles, males and females conform for different reasons, and as a result
conform at different levels.
Define compliance correct answersWhere you go along with the group in order to fit in even when you
don't believe in their view point, likely to be linked to NSI.
E.g. in the post-experiment discussions of Asch's study, most conforming participants claimed to have
went along with the wrong answer to avoid ridicule..
Define identification correct answersAdopting the views of a group both publicly and privately because
you value membership of that group. This is a stronger form of conformity, temporary and is not
maintained when individuals leave the group. For example, in the army you may adopt the behaviour
and beliefs of fellow soldiers, but on leaving the army for civilian life, new behaviours and opinions will
be adopted.
Define internalisation correct answers(True Conformity) Behaviour/belief of the majority is accepted by
the indivudal and becomes part of their own belief system. Lasts even when the majority isn't present.
Most likely to be linked to ISI.
Define conformity correct answersThe process of yielding to majority, when an individual is influence by
a majority group's views or behaviour
What are the different explanations for conformity? correct answersInformative Social Influence (ISI)
Normative Social Influence (NSI)
Variables affecting conformity (Investigated by Asch): Group size, Task Difficulty & Unanimity
Describe normative social influence correct answersWhen a person conforms to be accepted and to feel
as though they belong to a group. This usually occurs when conformity is socially rewarding or in order
to avoid social rejection.
Provide research support for normative social influence. (& year) correct answersAsch (1955) A line
judgement test where the matching line was obvious. Over the 12 critical trials (where the majority gave
the clearly incorrect answer) 75% of participants conformed at least once.
,Study shows that as conformity occurred in a non-ambiguous situation, normative influence was the
only explanation for the levels of conformity seen here.
Describe informational social influence correct answersExplains conformity that occurs out of a desire to
be right. Occurs in ambiguous situations where the correct answer or solution or way to behave isn't
clear.
Provide research support for informational social influence correct answersJenness (1932) Ambiguous
situation where participants had to estimate the number of beans in the jar. Found that. Individual
estimates moved towards the estimates of others showing that they privately believed the group
estimate over their original one. Thus displaying informational social influence.
Describe the procedure Asch's Original Research into Conformity. (1955) correct answers123 male
students
Participant answered last or 2nd to last to call out which of the three comparison lines matched the
standard line. Was only 1 true participant and other 6 were confederates.
Critical Trials: 12/18 trials where confederates provided the wrong answers.
How many participants took place in Asch's original study? correct answers123 American male students
What year did Asch's original study take place? correct answers1955
What was the task in Asch's original study? correct answersTo say which comparison line, A,B or C was
the same as the stimulus line on 18 different trials
Describe the control group in Asch's original study? correct answers36 participants who were tested
individually on 20 trials, to test how accurate individual judgements were
,What were the critical trials of Asch's original study? correct answers12 (out of 18 total trials) were
critical, which meant that the confederates gave identically wrong answers and the real participants
always answered last or second to last.
Describe the results of Asch's original study correct answers1. The control group had an error rate of less
than 1% demonstrates the obviousness of the answer
2. 32% conformity rate in the critical trials
3. 25% of participants never conformed at all
4. 5% of participants conformed every single time
What did the post-experiment discussions find in Asch's original study? correct answers- Majority of
conforming participants did so in order to avoid ridicule
- Some participants believed their perception was incorrect because they were told it was a visual
perception test (and so conformed)
- Some participants doubted themselves so conformed to the majority
What do the findings of Asch's original study show? correct answersEven when the majority is clearly
wrong, they still have influence over individuals.
Most participants conformed to avoid ridicule, i.e. normative social influence.
What are situational variables? correct answersFeatures of an environment the affect the degree to
which individuals yield to group pressures
What are individual variables? correct answersPersonal characteristics that affect the degree to which
individuals yield to group pressures
, Describe how group size affects majority influence correct answersRefers to the number of members
within a social group
As group size increases, conformity levels increase also.
Asch's variation: Found increases in conformity level until the group size reached 3 members, after this
amount, there was hardly any change to the levels of conformity levels.
Describe how unanimity affects majority influence correct answersUnanimity: Degree to which group
members are in agreement with each other
When the majority group is not unanimous, conformity levels drop.
Asch's variation: Conformity dropped to 5% when a confederate went against the other confederates.
Describe how the difficulty of a task may affect majority influence. Which explanation for conformity do
the results of Asch's variation support? correct answersHow obvious the correct decision/answer is
when regarding a task.
Asch's variation: The more similar in length the comparison lines were, the higher conformity levels
were.
Supports Informational Social Influence.
What happens to conformity levels when participants were allowed to write down their answers?
correct answersConformity drops to 12.5%, supporting Normative Social Influence because participants
were avoiding ridicule from the majority group,
Describe how gender (an individual variable) may affect conformity correct answersGender: Eagly
suggested that due to gender roles, males and females conform for different reasons, and as a result
conform at different levels.
