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Summary ALL A LEVEL SOCIAL INFLUENCE NOTES
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CONFORMITYConformity: a type of social influence involving a change in belief or behaviour in
order to fit in with a group. This change is in response to real (involving the physical
presence of others) or imagined (involving the pressure of social
norms/expectations) group pressure.
Examples:
- Laughing at a joke we don’t find funny just because everyone else does.
- Wearing a certain style of clothing because all of our friends wear it.
Explanation for conformity: (Deutsch and Gerard 1995)
1. Normative social influence- the desire to be liked- when we conform to fit in
with the group because we don’t want to appear foolish or be left out. (Motivated
by a desire to be accepted)
2. Informational social influence- the desire to be right- when we conform because
we are unsure of the situation, so we look to others who we believe may have
more information than us. (Motivated by a desire to be correct)
NSI & ISI work together- the “two process” approach:
- Deutsch and Gerard (1995) argue that behaviour is often influenced by both
normative social influence and informational social influence working together.
- Behaviour is more likely to be the result of NSI and ISI working together.
Investigating conformity; Jenness (1932)- Bean Jar Experiment
Aim: to investigate conformity.
Procedure: participants were asked to estimate how many beans they thought were in
the jar. Each participant had to make an individual estimate, and then do the same as a
group.
Results: he found that when the task was carried out in a social group, the participants
would report estimates of roughly the same value (even though they had previously
reported quite different estimates as individuals).
,Conclusion: the study demonstrated that individuals’ behaviour and beliefs can be
influenced by a group (majority influence and informational social influence).
Types of conformity:
- As well as explanations for conformity (ISI AND NSI), there are also different
types of conformity, depending on whether the person changes their view only
in public or in public and private.
Kelman (1958): proposed 3 types of conformity:
1. Compliance; publicly changing behaviour to fit in with the group while privately
disagreeing. In other words, conforming to the majority (publicly) in spite of
not really agreeing with them (privately).
Compliance is more likely to occur as a result of normative social influence
because of a desire to be publicly accepted even though you might not agree
privately.
2. Identification; conforming to the expectations of a social norm based on a
uniform. Similar to compliance, there does not have to be a change in private
opinion.
Identification is more likely to occur as a result of informational social
influence because you want to follow social norms and can be correct even
though you privately don’t agree.
3. Internalisation; publicly changing behaviour to fit in with a group and also
agreeing with the behaviour privately.
Studies of conformity- Sherif (1935)
Aim: Sherif conducted an experiment with the aim of demonstrating that people
conform to group norms when they are put in an ambiguous situation.
Method: Sherif used a lab experiment to study conformity. He used the autokinetic
effect- this is where a small spot of light (projected onto a screen) in a dark room will
appear to move, even though it is still (it is a visual illusion). It was discovered that
, when participants were individually tested their estimates on how far the light moved
varied considerably (e.g; from 20cm to 80cm). The participants were then tested in
groups of three. Sherif manipulated the composition of the group by putting together
two people whose estimate was very different. Each person in the group had to say
aloud how far they thought the light had moved.
Results: Sherif found that over numerous estimates (trials) of the movement of light,
the group converged to a common estimate. The person whose estimate of movement
was greatly different to the other two in the group conformed to the view of the other
two. Sherif said that this showed that people would always tend to conform. Rather
than make individual judgments they tend to come to a group agreement.
Conclusion: the results show that when in an ambiguous situation (such as the
autokinetic effect), a person will look to others (who know more/better) for guidance
(adopt the group norm). They want to do the right thing but may lack the appropriate
information. Observing others can provide this information.
Studies of conformity- Asch (1951) inspired by Sherif (1935)- The Autokinetic Effect
- Asch believed that the main problem with Sherif’s (1935) conformity
experiment was that there was no correct answer to the ambiguous autokinetic
experiment. Asch (1951) devised an experiment whereby there was an obvious
answer to a line judgement task. If the participant gave an incorrect answer it
would be clear that this was due to group pressure.
Aim: Solomon Asch conducted an experiment to investigate the extent to which social
pressure from a majority group could affect a person to conform.
Procedure: Asch used a lab experiment to study conformity. Using the line judgement
task, Asch put a naive participant in a room with seven confederates. The confederates
had agreed in advance what their responses would be when presented with the line task.
The real participant did not know this and was led to believe that the other seven
participants were also real participants like themselves. Each person in the room had
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