SQCIAL INRUENCE;
Conformity -A form of social influence, the tendency for people to adopt the attitudes/behaviours and beliefs of
other members of their group to fit in.
Types of conformity:
Compliance - the weakest type of conformity, a person publicly changes their behaviour to fit in and avoid
disapproval, but privately the person does not accept the behaviours/beliefs of that group. E.g. pretending to like
a film you dislike so as not to stand out.
Identification - a person publicly and privately changes their behaviour to fit in with the group, however, they only
identify with these beliefs as long as they are associated with the group, upon leaving the original behaviours
return. E.g. adopting the same fashion taste but when they move away from them they revert back.
Internalisation - the strongest type of conformity, a person publicly and privately changes their behaviour/beliefs
to those of a group but permanently. E.g. a person who undergoes a religious conversion and still prays even if
they move away from that group.
Explanations for conformity:
Normative social influence - conformity when people go along with the majority without personally accepting their
point of view, known as compliance. Due to the need for approval and acceptance of the group and to avoid
rejection or disapproval. NSI is the need to be liked and to frt in.
Informational social influence - this is the desire to be correct/right which motivates individuals to act on
information provided by members of the group because they believe that information to be true or the correct way
to do something.
Asch; conformity experiment:
~edure: Showed two cards to participants, on one card was the standard line and on the other card there
were the comparison lines.
There were 123 male American participants. Each naive participant was tested individually with a group of 6-10
confederates. The naive participant was not aware that the others were confederate.
Findings· Each participant completed 18 trails, 12 of these were critical trials in which the confederates would all
give the same wrong answer.
Across all critical trials participants gave a wrong answer 37% of the time.
Overall 25% of the participants did not conform. So 75% of the participants conformed at least once.
Variables affecting conformity:
1) GROUP SIZE: Increasing the size of the group increased conformity, (up to a point), having three
confederates and one real participant caused the conformity to be at 32% but adding extra confederates
after three did not increase conformity.
2) UNANIMITY: The presence of a dissenter, led to a reduced conformity rate. The figure was on average
25% conformity. The presence of a dissenter allowed the participants to behave more independently.
3) TASK DIFFICULTY: Asch increased the difficulty of the task by making the comparison lines and the
control lines more similar in length. Found that conformity increased under these conditions. Suggest
that ISi plays a greater role when the task becomes harder as you look for guidance to other people so
that you are right.
EVALUATION:
, \
() . as it is mlntrnislng the difference& that
\
- Only men were tested in Asch'a study his research has beta biasat men are more likely to conform This
wom ' 1ty hows th wo · •
en would show. Research into women and conform . s didnt take into aocount the differences
means that his study cannot be generalised to the population as he
between men and women. n individualist culture, he did not take
~-) Culture bias, as all of the participants were from the U~A whi~~~:: ~Hectivist country they found that they
into account the differences between cultures such as China wh,
had higher conformity rates. The study lacks population validity. d t do does not resemble a real life task, the
0
(-) The study lacks mundane realism, the task that the participant h~ b setting 60 they may have displayed
18
findings do not generalise real life situations, participants were : ~ •~:ws that the study lacks validity.
demand characteristics due to guessing the nature of the task, 18 s
Contonnttv to social roles:
Zimbardo (Stanford prison experiment): . d guard in a prison situation.
To find out how much people conform to the social roles of a pnso;;~anent social groups. These give us
Social roles: these are the 'parts' that people play as members O er
expectations of how we should behave in a given role.
d university 21 male students were selected
Procedure. Used a basement of a psychology department at Stanfoli1 . s. Prisoners were arrested, and
for their mental stability. These 21 were div_ided into 1~ guards and ~ pnsone~h study was scheduled to run on
put in cells. Guards called prisoners by their numbers instead of their names. e
for two weeks.
· · · d th • oners continually repeat their numbers,
Findings: The guards became increasingly sadIstIc. They ma e ~ pns . . .ded with
1 s
go to the toilet in buckets and made them sleep on the floor. The prisoners became submissive, some ' d. of
· · •
the guards' behaviour against rebellious pnsoners. The expenmen a t h d to stop after 6
. days due to the sa ism
the guards becoming too harmful.
The results suggest that people conform to social roles. The power of social situations to influence
people's behaviour. This supports the situational hypoth~sis of behaviour. .
People are quick to conform to social roles even when these roles go against their principles
I
(situational).
EVALUATION:
(+) Practical application: Zimbardo's research demonstrates the influence of conformity to social roles which
plays an important role in' applications for society and societies behaviour. •• •
(-) Ethi~i'concems: The p~flicipants were no(p~otected from psychological or physical harm. Many of the
partic;ipants were subjectea to high levels of stress and some "went crazyn. Another ethical concern is that
participants did not explicitly consent to all aspects of the experiment such as being 'arrested' at home.
(-): Lack~. realism; As the prison was not real, both the guards and the prisoners knew they were taking part in a
study, this· might have affected how they behaved, they may have felt that they were expected to actin a certain
way, so _this finding lacks validity and may not be applicable to real life situations.
1
' .-1 I
QbfKlieoce·
• . •. . ~ ,·.I: .
Obedien~: ~ form of social influ~nce, in which an individual follows a direct order, the person giving the order is
an autho~~~nan figure, w~~,:~as ~he po~er t~ p~~!.sh someone wh~ _does not follow tha~ order.
(confo~•~: _a form of s<>9i~! ~n~uence, in wh1~~ ,~n individual re~P.Ot)ds to perceived ~rqup pressure) .
. ~ . ' ..
. 1•• I , 1'' , '
1.r
Milg~f!J. {pbedience expenm~nts):
• . • , , I ~
' i •\
~aseline procedure: 40 america~ ~en, at Yale university, the participants were thought to be joining an
experiment on memory. They ~r~w a ~rd to see who would be teacher and who would be I th . .
,.. . . d th t th rti • . t th .. earner, e drawing
was ngge so a e pa cipan. was e teacher. An experimenter was also involved ·
(a·uthority figure). ; • . . wearing a 1ab coat
Conformity -A form of social influence, the tendency for people to adopt the attitudes/behaviours and beliefs of
other members of their group to fit in.
Types of conformity:
Compliance - the weakest type of conformity, a person publicly changes their behaviour to fit in and avoid
disapproval, but privately the person does not accept the behaviours/beliefs of that group. E.g. pretending to like
a film you dislike so as not to stand out.
Identification - a person publicly and privately changes their behaviour to fit in with the group, however, they only
identify with these beliefs as long as they are associated with the group, upon leaving the original behaviours
return. E.g. adopting the same fashion taste but when they move away from them they revert back.
Internalisation - the strongest type of conformity, a person publicly and privately changes their behaviour/beliefs
to those of a group but permanently. E.g. a person who undergoes a religious conversion and still prays even if
they move away from that group.
Explanations for conformity:
Normative social influence - conformity when people go along with the majority without personally accepting their
point of view, known as compliance. Due to the need for approval and acceptance of the group and to avoid
rejection or disapproval. NSI is the need to be liked and to frt in.
Informational social influence - this is the desire to be correct/right which motivates individuals to act on
information provided by members of the group because they believe that information to be true or the correct way
to do something.
Asch; conformity experiment:
~edure: Showed two cards to participants, on one card was the standard line and on the other card there
were the comparison lines.
There were 123 male American participants. Each naive participant was tested individually with a group of 6-10
confederates. The naive participant was not aware that the others were confederate.
Findings· Each participant completed 18 trails, 12 of these were critical trials in which the confederates would all
give the same wrong answer.
Across all critical trials participants gave a wrong answer 37% of the time.
Overall 25% of the participants did not conform. So 75% of the participants conformed at least once.
Variables affecting conformity:
1) GROUP SIZE: Increasing the size of the group increased conformity, (up to a point), having three
confederates and one real participant caused the conformity to be at 32% but adding extra confederates
after three did not increase conformity.
2) UNANIMITY: The presence of a dissenter, led to a reduced conformity rate. The figure was on average
25% conformity. The presence of a dissenter allowed the participants to behave more independently.
3) TASK DIFFICULTY: Asch increased the difficulty of the task by making the comparison lines and the
control lines more similar in length. Found that conformity increased under these conditions. Suggest
that ISi plays a greater role when the task becomes harder as you look for guidance to other people so
that you are right.
EVALUATION:
, \
() . as it is mlntrnislng the difference& that
\
- Only men were tested in Asch'a study his research has beta biasat men are more likely to conform This
wom ' 1ty hows th wo · •
en would show. Research into women and conform . s didnt take into aocount the differences
means that his study cannot be generalised to the population as he
between men and women. n individualist culture, he did not take
~-) Culture bias, as all of the participants were from the U~A whi~~~:: ~Hectivist country they found that they
into account the differences between cultures such as China wh,
had higher conformity rates. The study lacks population validity. d t do does not resemble a real life task, the
0
(-) The study lacks mundane realism, the task that the participant h~ b setting 60 they may have displayed
18
findings do not generalise real life situations, participants were : ~ •~:ws that the study lacks validity.
demand characteristics due to guessing the nature of the task, 18 s
Contonnttv to social roles:
Zimbardo (Stanford prison experiment): . d guard in a prison situation.
To find out how much people conform to the social roles of a pnso;;~anent social groups. These give us
Social roles: these are the 'parts' that people play as members O er
expectations of how we should behave in a given role.
d university 21 male students were selected
Procedure. Used a basement of a psychology department at Stanfoli1 . s. Prisoners were arrested, and
for their mental stability. These 21 were div_ided into 1~ guards and ~ pnsone~h study was scheduled to run on
put in cells. Guards called prisoners by their numbers instead of their names. e
for two weeks.
· · · d th • oners continually repeat their numbers,
Findings: The guards became increasingly sadIstIc. They ma e ~ pns . . .ded with
1 s
go to the toilet in buckets and made them sleep on the floor. The prisoners became submissive, some ' d. of
· · •
the guards' behaviour against rebellious pnsoners. The expenmen a t h d to stop after 6
. days due to the sa ism
the guards becoming too harmful.
The results suggest that people conform to social roles. The power of social situations to influence
people's behaviour. This supports the situational hypoth~sis of behaviour. .
People are quick to conform to social roles even when these roles go against their principles
I
(situational).
EVALUATION:
(+) Practical application: Zimbardo's research demonstrates the influence of conformity to social roles which
plays an important role in' applications for society and societies behaviour. •• •
(-) Ethi~i'concems: The p~flicipants were no(p~otected from psychological or physical harm. Many of the
partic;ipants were subjectea to high levels of stress and some "went crazyn. Another ethical concern is that
participants did not explicitly consent to all aspects of the experiment such as being 'arrested' at home.
(-): Lack~. realism; As the prison was not real, both the guards and the prisoners knew they were taking part in a
study, this· might have affected how they behaved, they may have felt that they were expected to actin a certain
way, so _this finding lacks validity and may not be applicable to real life situations.
1
' .-1 I
QbfKlieoce·
• . •. . ~ ,·.I: .
Obedien~: ~ form of social influ~nce, in which an individual follows a direct order, the person giving the order is
an autho~~~nan figure, w~~,:~as ~he po~er t~ p~~!.sh someone wh~ _does not follow tha~ order.
(confo~•~: _a form of s<>9i~! ~n~uence, in wh1~~ ,~n individual re~P.Ot)ds to perceived ~rqup pressure) .
. ~ . ' ..
. 1•• I , 1'' , '
1.r
Milg~f!J. {pbedience expenm~nts):
• . • , , I ~
' i •\
~aseline procedure: 40 america~ ~en, at Yale university, the participants were thought to be joining an
experiment on memory. They ~r~w a ~rd to see who would be teacher and who would be I th . .
,.. . . d th t th rti • . t th .. earner, e drawing
was ngge so a e pa cipan. was e teacher. An experimenter was also involved ·
(a·uthority figure). ; • . . wearing a 1ab coat
