Conformity is a change in a person’s behavior or opinions as a result of real or imagined
pressure from a person or group of people. There are three types of conformity; compliance,
internalisation and identification. Compliance is a public agreement but public
disagreement. The change as a result is only superficial and so temporary, for as long as the
person is in the situation. Internalisation is when there is a public and private agreement of
the groups beliefs, and so any changes would be more permanent, continuing even without
the rest of the group. Identification is also only public agreement with the group and so is
also more temporary but is still strong like internalisation. However it is different to
compliance as compliance is a person trying not to be disliked, whilst identification is a
person trying to be liked. There are two explanations for conformity; normative social
influence and informational social influence. NSI is about following norms and not appearing
foolish, gaining social approval rather than rejection. It is emotional rather than cognitive.
NSI often occurs in situations with strangers where rejection is a concern, when social
approval by friends is desired or in stressful situations where support is sought out.
Informational social influence is based off of cognitive processes and wanting be correct and
informed, more so than the rest of the group. It occurs mostly in new situations where right
or wrong isn’t clear, crisis situations where quick and important decisions must be made and
when one person or group is regarded as more of an expert than another.
Steph and Jeff both conformed for different reasons. Steph conformed for informational
reasons, she felt that as a student teacher herself, the more seasoned teaching staff and
more expertise and knowledge surrounding why they should be striking. She states that she
has now become ‘quite passionate’ about the cause, thus suggesting internalisation as her
agreement with the other teachers is both public and private. Jeff on the other hand
conformed for normative reasons. He saw the other teachers striking and didn’t want to
appear foolish or naïve, he wanted to not be rejected by the other teachers. He is compliant
as his agreement is only public and temporary, it only lasts as long as the group is present.
There is research support for Informational social influence, one such case is Lucas et al
(2006). Wherein participants were given easy and difficult maths problems and it was found
that when faced by more difficult maths problems, participants were more likely to conform
pressure from a person or group of people. There are three types of conformity; compliance,
internalisation and identification. Compliance is a public agreement but public
disagreement. The change as a result is only superficial and so temporary, for as long as the
person is in the situation. Internalisation is when there is a public and private agreement of
the groups beliefs, and so any changes would be more permanent, continuing even without
the rest of the group. Identification is also only public agreement with the group and so is
also more temporary but is still strong like internalisation. However it is different to
compliance as compliance is a person trying not to be disliked, whilst identification is a
person trying to be liked. There are two explanations for conformity; normative social
influence and informational social influence. NSI is about following norms and not appearing
foolish, gaining social approval rather than rejection. It is emotional rather than cognitive.
NSI often occurs in situations with strangers where rejection is a concern, when social
approval by friends is desired or in stressful situations where support is sought out.
Informational social influence is based off of cognitive processes and wanting be correct and
informed, more so than the rest of the group. It occurs mostly in new situations where right
or wrong isn’t clear, crisis situations where quick and important decisions must be made and
when one person or group is regarded as more of an expert than another.
Steph and Jeff both conformed for different reasons. Steph conformed for informational
reasons, she felt that as a student teacher herself, the more seasoned teaching staff and
more expertise and knowledge surrounding why they should be striking. She states that she
has now become ‘quite passionate’ about the cause, thus suggesting internalisation as her
agreement with the other teachers is both public and private. Jeff on the other hand
conformed for normative reasons. He saw the other teachers striking and didn’t want to
appear foolish or naïve, he wanted to not be rejected by the other teachers. He is compliant
as his agreement is only public and temporary, it only lasts as long as the group is present.
There is research support for Informational social influence, one such case is Lucas et al
(2006). Wherein participants were given easy and difficult maths problems and it was found
that when faced by more difficult maths problems, participants were more likely to conform
