Social Influence Revision
Conformity is defined as a type of social influence where an individual or
individuals follow the doings of the majority. This is known as the majority
influence.
Herbert Kelman (1958) proposed three types of conformity
- Compliance: Agreeing with the opinions of others in public but
disagreeing with them in private: Change of view is temporary
- Internalisation: Agreeing with others both publicly and privately:
Change of view is permanent
- Identification: Agreeing with others in order to fit in- want to be
perceived as belonging to the group: Change of view is temporary
The two process theory on why people conform
- Informational Social Influence: People conform because they either
trust the judgement of others and want to be correct OR they conform
because they do not have enough information about something so
there is uncertainty.
- They want to be RIGHT
- This is a cognitive process
- This leads to a permanent change of view and opinion: For example,
Internalisation
- Normative Social Influence: People conform because they want to be
accepted by the group. They seek the approval of others.
- They want to be LIKED
- This is an emotional process
- This leads to a temporary change in view and opinion: For example,
Compliance and Identification
Solomon Asch (1956):
Aim: Wanted to investigate the extent that people are willing to conform to
the opinion of others even when the answer is certain
Participants (Ppts): 123 American men were tested: Each group had
confederates (Actors)
Procedure: Ppts were shown the length of line X, and they were asked to
say out loud which line (Options A, B, and C) was the same length as X. In
, each group, there were 8 people: seven were confederates, and one was a
real ppt. The first 6 who were confederates said the same incorrect answer
out loud, then the real ppt had to say their answer.
Findings: The ppts agreed with the confederates answer 36.8% of the time.
25% never conformed
75% conformed at least once
Factors affecting level of conformity
- Unanimity: When one or more of the confederates are instructed to
give the correct answer:
- Conformity DROPPED considerably
- Asch concluded that by breaking a group’s consensus, there would be
a reduction of the levels of conformity.
- Group Size: When the size of the group is increased
- Conformity INCREASES when more people said the same answer
- However, there is a LIGHT BULB EFFECT eventually: When increasing
the group size by a large number, it does not influence the conformity
levels (There is an optimal level of 4- conformity does not increase by
much difference if the number of people in the group is higher than
four).
- 1 confederate + 1 naive = 3% conformity
- 2 confederates + 1 naive = 14% conformity
- 3 confederates + 1 naive = 31.8% conformity
- Task Difficulty: The lines were made to look more similar
- Conformity INCREASED
- Supports Informational Social Influence: People follow others because
they want to be certain and right
- Lucas et al found that increasing task difficulty was influenced by the
self-efficacy of the individual: Ppts that were more confident in their
ability were less likely to conform
- Conclusion that majority influence is dependent on both SITUATIONAL
FACTORS (task difficulty) and INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
Evaluation
Conformity is defined as a type of social influence where an individual or
individuals follow the doings of the majority. This is known as the majority
influence.
Herbert Kelman (1958) proposed three types of conformity
- Compliance: Agreeing with the opinions of others in public but
disagreeing with them in private: Change of view is temporary
- Internalisation: Agreeing with others both publicly and privately:
Change of view is permanent
- Identification: Agreeing with others in order to fit in- want to be
perceived as belonging to the group: Change of view is temporary
The two process theory on why people conform
- Informational Social Influence: People conform because they either
trust the judgement of others and want to be correct OR they conform
because they do not have enough information about something so
there is uncertainty.
- They want to be RIGHT
- This is a cognitive process
- This leads to a permanent change of view and opinion: For example,
Internalisation
- Normative Social Influence: People conform because they want to be
accepted by the group. They seek the approval of others.
- They want to be LIKED
- This is an emotional process
- This leads to a temporary change in view and opinion: For example,
Compliance and Identification
Solomon Asch (1956):
Aim: Wanted to investigate the extent that people are willing to conform to
the opinion of others even when the answer is certain
Participants (Ppts): 123 American men were tested: Each group had
confederates (Actors)
Procedure: Ppts were shown the length of line X, and they were asked to
say out loud which line (Options A, B, and C) was the same length as X. In
, each group, there were 8 people: seven were confederates, and one was a
real ppt. The first 6 who were confederates said the same incorrect answer
out loud, then the real ppt had to say their answer.
Findings: The ppts agreed with the confederates answer 36.8% of the time.
25% never conformed
75% conformed at least once
Factors affecting level of conformity
- Unanimity: When one or more of the confederates are instructed to
give the correct answer:
- Conformity DROPPED considerably
- Asch concluded that by breaking a group’s consensus, there would be
a reduction of the levels of conformity.
- Group Size: When the size of the group is increased
- Conformity INCREASES when more people said the same answer
- However, there is a LIGHT BULB EFFECT eventually: When increasing
the group size by a large number, it does not influence the conformity
levels (There is an optimal level of 4- conformity does not increase by
much difference if the number of people in the group is higher than
four).
- 1 confederate + 1 naive = 3% conformity
- 2 confederates + 1 naive = 14% conformity
- 3 confederates + 1 naive = 31.8% conformity
- Task Difficulty: The lines were made to look more similar
- Conformity INCREASED
- Supports Informational Social Influence: People follow others because
they want to be certain and right
- Lucas et al found that increasing task difficulty was influenced by the
self-efficacy of the individual: Ppts that were more confident in their
ability were less likely to conform
- Conclusion that majority influence is dependent on both SITUATIONAL
FACTORS (task difficulty) and INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
Evaluation
