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Summary AQA Psychology A Level Social Influence Topic Notes
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A complete guide to the Social Influence topic of AQA Psychology A Level Paper 1.
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CONFORMITYConformity definition
Conformity is defined as yielding to group pressure. Conformity occurs when an
individual’s behaviour and/or beliefs are influenced by a larger group of people, which is
why conformity is also known as majority influence. When conformity reduces a
person’s independence and leads to harmful outcomes, it can be a negative force.
Generally though, conformity has positive outcomes, helping society to function
smoothly and predictably. Much human activity is socially based, occurring in groups, so
there is a need for individuals to agree in order for groups to form and operate efficiently.
Conformity helps this process; by conforming we can make it easier to get along with
each other.
The three types of conformity and who came up with these:
Kelman (1958)- compliance, identification, internalisation
Compliance most shallow, internalisation most deep
Compliance explanation
● Compliance occurs when individuals adjust their behaviour and opinions
to those of the group to be accepted or avoid disapproval.
● Compliance therefore occurs due to a desire to fit in and, as fitting in is
seen as desirable, this is the motivation behind compliance.
● Compliance involves public, but not private, acceptance of a group’s
behaviour and attitudes- compliance does not result in any change in the
person’s underlying attitude, only in the views and behaviours they
express in the presence of the group.
● Thus, compliance is a fairly weak and temporary form of conformity, only
shown in the presence of the group.
Identification explanation:
● Identification occurs when individuals adjust their behaviour and opinions
to those of a group, because membership of that group is desirable.
● This is a stronger type of conformity as it involves both public and private
acceptance, but it is often temporary and is not maintained when
individuals leave the group.
Internalisation explanation
● Internalisation occurs when individuals genuinely adjust their behaviour
and opinions to those of a group.
● This involves individuals being exposed to the belief systems of others
and having to decide what they truly believe in.
● If a group’s beliefs are seen as correct, it will lead to public and private
acceptance of the group’s behaviour and opinions, which will not be
dependent on the presence of the group or group membership for
maintenance.
Research into conformity- Jenness study
Aim: To investigate whether individual judgements of jellybeans in a glass jar
was influenced by discussion in groups. Procedure: 1. Participants made
,individual, private estimates of the number of jellybeans in a jar. 2. Participants
then discussed their estimates either in a large group or in several smaller
groups. 3. After discussion, group estimates were created. 4. Participants then
made a second individual, private estimate. Findings: 1. Typicality of opinion
was increased – individuals’ second private estimates tended to converge
(move towards) their group estimate. 2. The average change of opinion was
greater among females – women conformed more. Conclusions- The
judgements of individuals are affected by majority opinions, especially in
ambiguous or unfamiliar situations.
Explanations for conformity- two types and who came up with them
Deutsch and Gerard (1955) distinguish between 2 explanations for why people
conform:
Normative Social Influence, Informational Social Influence
This is known as the Dual Process model as sometimes it is a bit of both of
these.
Informational social influence:
Humans have a basic need to feel confident that their ideas and beliefs are correct (a
need for certainty). This helps people feel in charge of their lives and in control of the
world. This is the motivation underpinning ISI. When individuals are uncertain about
something, they look at the behaviour and opinions of others to help shape their own
thoughts and behaviour. This generally occurs in unfamiliar situations (e.g. which cutlery
to use when in a restaurant for the first time) or in ambiguous situations where there is
no clear correct answer (e.g. watching a film and not knowing what to make of it).
Watching others to see what cutlery they use, or asking what they thought of a film,
helps a person make up their own mind. When people conform because of ISI, they
tend to believe the opinions adopted – as they are unaware what to believe, they look to
the opinions of others and become converted to their viewpoint – internalisation. ISI can
be seen to have an evolutionary basis to it, as looking to others for guidance in new
situations that are potentially dangerous could have a survival value. Abrams et al.
(1990) think that we are only influenced by others’ opinions in ambiguous situations
when we see ourselves as sharing characteristics with them. Thus, we are much more
likely to internalise the opinions of friends than strangers.
Normative Social Influence:
Humans are a social species, they have a fundamental need for social
companionship and a fear of rejection. It is this that forms the basis of NSI – to
gain approval and acceptance, to avoid rejection or to achieve specific goals. An
important condition for NSI to occur is that the individual must feel that they are
under surveillance by the group. When this is the case people tend to conform
to the majority position in public but not necessarily internalise this view as it
does not carry over into private settings nor does it endure over time –
compliance.
Types of conformity and explanations for conformity- AO3 Evaluation
,Undermining evidence- complicated relationship between compliance and
internalisation
P- The relationship between compliance and internalisation is complicated
because it is difficult to determine when each one is actually taking place.
Ev- For example, it is assumed that a person who publicly agrees with a
majority yet disagrees with them in private must be demonstrating compliance
rather than internalisation. However, it is also possible that acceptance of the
group’s views has occurred in public yet disappears later when in private.
Ex- This could be because they have forgotten information given by the group or
because they have received new information that changes their mind. This
demonstrates the difficulty in determining what is, and what is not, simple
compliance rather than internalisation.
Supporting evidence- Research
P- US research has supported the important role played by people’s normative
beliefs in shaping behaviours such as smoking and energy conservation.
Ev- Linkenbach & Perkins (2003) found that adolescents exposed to the simple
message that the majority of their age peers did not smoke were subsequently
less likely to take up smoking. Likewise, Schultz et al. (2008) found that hotel
guests exposed to the normative message that 75% of guests reused their
towels each day (an indication of energy conservation behaviour) reduced their
own towel usage.
Ex- These studies support the claim that people shape their behaviour out of a
desire to fit in with their reference group, thus demonstrating the power of
normative social influence.
Supporting evidence- studies
P- Studies have demonstrated how exposure to other people’s beliefs and
opinions can shape many aspects of social behaviour and beliefs.
Ev- Wittenbrink & Henley (1996) found that participants exposed to negative
information about African Americans (which they were led to believe was the
view of the majority) later reported more negative attitudes toward black
individuals. Research has also shown how informational social influence can
shape political opinion. In a study by Fein et al. (2007), participants saw what
was supposedly the reaction of their fellow participants on screen during a
presidential debate. This information produced large shifts in their judgements of
the candidates’ performance.
Ex- These studies demonstrate the power of ISI in shaping social behaviour.
Discussion point- People don’t recognise NSI as factor in their behaviour
P- Although normative social influence undoubtedly has a powerful effect on the
behaviour of the individual, it is possible that they do not actually recognise the
behaviour of others as a causal factor in their own behaviour.
Ev- Support for this claim comes from Nolan et al. (2008), who investigated
whether people detected the influence of social norms on their energy
conservation behaviour. When asked about what factors had influenced their
own energy conservation, people believed that the behaviour of neighbours had
, least impact on their own energy conservation, yet results showed it had the
strongest impact.
Ex- This suggests that people rely on beliefs about what SHOULD motivate their
behaviour, and so under- detect the impact of normative social influence.
Discussion point- problem with ISI explanation
P- A problem for the informational social influence explanation of conformity is that
features of the task moderate the impact of majority influence. For some judgements
there are clear physical criteria for validation, but for other judgements there may be no
physical way of validating them.
Ev- For example, deciding whether Bristol is the most highly populated city in the south
west of England can be determined through objective (i.e. physical) means such as
consulting statistics, census records and so on. However, other judgements (e.g.
deciding whether Bristol is the most fun city in the south west of England) cannot be
made using objective criteria because such criteria do not exist. Consequently, these
kinds of judgements must be made on the basis of social consensus (i.e. what other
people, particularly experts, believe to be the case).
Ex- As a result, majorities should exert greater influence on issues of SOCIAL rather
than physical reality, and this is precisely what research tends to show (Laughlin, 1999).
Variables affecting conformity- Asch’s study (aim and procedure)
Aim- To investigate the degree to which individuals would conform to a majority who
gave obviously wrong answers. However, he told participants that they would be taking
part in a visual discrimination task to test perception.
Procedure- 123 American male student volunteers took part in what they were told was
a study of visual perception. Individual participants were placed in groups of 6-8
confederates (the participant did not know that the others were confederates). They
were seated around a table and were asked to say which comparison line (A, B or C)
was the same length as the stimulus line (X) on 18 different trials. The answer was
always obvious. They took turns to call out their answers with the real participant always
answering second to last or last. Twelve of the 18 trials were ‘critical’ trials where the
confederates gave identical wrong answers. For the first six trials, the confederates
gave the right answers. A trial = one occasion identifying the length of the stimulus line.
There was also a control group of 36 participants who were tested individually on 20
trials to test how accurate individual judgements were.
Asch’s Study- findings and conclusions
Findings- The control group had an error rate of only 0.04% (3 mistakes out of 720
trials), which showed how obvious the correct answers were. On the 12 critical trials,
there was a 33% conformity rate to wrong answers (so, participants agreed with
incorrect responses, on average, on 1/3 trials). 75% conformed to at least one wrong
answer (meaning only 25% never conformed) 5% conformed to all 12 wrong answers.
Post-experiment interviews were conducted and it was found that the majority of
participants conformed publicly to avoid disapproval from other group members but
continued privately to trust their own perceptions and judgements (they showed
compliance).
Conclusions- The judgements of individuals are affected by majority opinions, even
when the majority are obviously wrong (the task is unambiguous). There are big
individual differences in the amount to which people are affected by majority influence.
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