Social influence

Key questions 1.What is conformity? 2.Why do you think people in society conform? 3.What is obedience? 5.Who in society do we obey? 6.Can you think of examples where people in society have resisted against conformity or obedience? 7.Can you think of any examples of dramatic social change which has happened in the last 50 years?

Social influence Types of conformity and explanations Conformity to social roles Obedience Agentic state and authority The authoritarian personality Resistance to social influence Minority influence Social influence process in social change

What is social psychology? Social Psychology is the science that studies individual beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours in settings where other people are present (or merely implied or imagined)

Social Influence How many sweets are there? Pass the jar of sweets around the classroom. Write down the answer on your individual white board. Do this on your own! Keep it secret! Hide your answer until everyone has finished. Please discuss your estimates and decide on a whole class estimate. Please raise your hand if you would like to change the original estimate you wrote down?

Social Influence So what did we find…? In pairs discuss: Did you change your answer the second time? If so, why did you change your answer? What did you base your second answer on? How did you feel whilst you were making your guesses? What do you think the experiment is trying to show?

Social Influence Jenness’ (1932) Jelly Beans First study on conformity: Asked individuals to guess how many jelly beans were in a jar individually. The group then had to arrive at a group estimate. He interviewed the individuals after and asked them if they would like to change their estimate. Almost all changed it in line with the group estimate.

conformity Humans are influenced by the behaviour of others, even when we are not aware of being so. We consciously and unconsciously adjust our behaviour to align with the behaviours of others in a group. Conformity refers to how an individual or small group change their behaviour and/or attitudes as a result of the influence of a larger group, where there is no direct request for them to do so

Activity: When have you conformed? Think of and write down two times in which you have conformed. Make sure you write down the situation and what you did to conform. Why do you think you conformed?

Explanations for conformity (why we conform) Woody hates taking selfies, but his friends are always posting selfies on Facebook and they look like they are having a great time! This week Woody has posted 6 selfies, he doesn’t want his friends thinking he’s a boring loser! Mike started work at a new factory this week, he didn’t know how long to take for lunch so he timed how long his co-worker took (1 hour) and when he returned, Mike went for lunch also taking an hour.

conformity Explanations of conformity: Reasons why people comply Normative Social Influence Informational social Influence Types of conformity: How people conform Compliance Internalisation Identification

Informative social influence Why do we conform? Deutsch and Gerard (1955) Informative social influence This refers to instances where people conform because they are uncertain about what to do in a particular situation, so they look to others for guidance. Tends to be a permanent change A motivational force to look to others for guidance in order to be correct ISI -> sweet jar experiment In the sweet jar test: you moved your estimates closer to the estimates of others so you privately belived that the estimates were correct – This is a demonstration of internalisation (true conformity. Informational Social Influence is where a person conforms to gain knowledge and/or be right. They do this to act appropriate in ambiguous situations and to avoid standing out. Have you ever noticed how the smartest people in your class become more popular during exams…clearly everyone wants to sit next to them because of information social influence. During an uncertain situation, we desire to be correct and look to our social group for answers.

Normative social influence Why do we conform? Normative social influence This refers to instances where someone conforms in order to fit in and gain approval or avoid disapproval from other group members despite privately disagreeing. Tends to be transient. A motivational force to be liked and accepted by a group. NSI is where a person conforms to be accepted and belong to the group, despite privately disagreeing. They do this because its rewarding (they fit in) and to avoid punishment (being ridiculed). E.g. Facebook: ‘Be the first of your friends to like this’

Activity: When have you conformed? Pass the sheet of paper you wrote an example on of when you conformed to the person on your left. Think about the points in front of you. Why did conformity occur? Was it due to normative or informational influence? Activity 2: Hand out laminated cards to random students: pick which one they think it belongs to. Draw informative vs normative on board: vote which one they think it belongs to.

Types of conformity: How people conform According to Kelman (1958) there are three levels of conformity, including: Compliance Identification Internalisation Lowest (most shallow) level According to Kelman (1958) there are three levels of conformity, including: compliance, identification and internalisation. Now its useful to think of these three terms from the lowest (or most shallow) level of conformity, which is compliance, to the deepest and most extreme level of conformity which is, internalisation. Deepest level

Kelman’s types of conformity Compliance Compliance is the most superficial type of conformity The individual conforms publicly to avoid social disapproval, but maintains their own private opinion They therefore revert to their former behaviour/attitudes once they have left the situation Explained through normative social influence Examples?

Laughing at a joke you don’t find funny Going outside to smoke because nobody else in the house is smoking Wearing a dinner suit to a formal occasion

Identification This is where the individual adapts their behaviour because they value membership of the group It is a deeper level of conformity than compliance The individual conforms both publically and privately It is still a temporary change, as they are likely to revert back to their old behaviour/attitudes when they leave the group Membership of the group is desirable Temporary – not maintained when individuals leave the group

Joining a gang Becoming a goth In the army: adopt behaviour and the beliefs. Leaving the army: change behaviour and beliefs. Becoming a goth Joining a yoga club

Internalisation This is the deepest level of conformity and is sometimes referred to as ‘true conformity’ It represents a permanent change in the individual’s behaviour/attitudes and results from the views being internalised (taken as one’s own) In other words, the individual shows conformity to the group because he/she genuinely agrees with their views This results in both a public and private change in behaviour and/or attitudes Explained through Informational social influence The group no longer has to be present to carry out the behaviour/beliefs. Become the individuals own point of view. Don’t need group to maintain the behaviour.

Joining a human rights organisation Becoming a vegetarian Joining a human rights organisation Adopting a religion

Types of conformity Compliance Identification Internalisation Shallowest Refers to instances where a person may agree in public with a group of people but the person actually privately disagrees with the group’s viewpoint or behaviour. This type of conformity therefore does not lead to a change in a person’s private beliefs and is temporary. Compliance Refers to instances when the individual takes on the views of a group they join or they admire. It does not necessarily result in a change of a person’s private beliefs. Identification refers to instances where a person behaves or agrees with a group of people because they have actually accepted the group’s point of view or beliefs. This type of conformity does result in a change in the persons’ private beliefs and attitudes as a result it may have longer lasting effects than public compliance (conversion). Internalisation The blue buttons take you to the studies relevant to the type of conformity. The red button takes you to slide 10 “why do we conform” Deepest

Activity: Examples of conformity In pairs, think of two examples for each type of conformity Compliance Identification Internalisation

Joining the green party Internalisation Joining the green party

Wearing a suit to a business meeting compliance Wearing a suit to a business meeting

Not smoking while with a group of non-smoking friends Compliance Not smoking while with a group of non-smoking friends

Joining the Freemasons Internalisation Joining the Freemasons

Identification Joining a yoga group

Sitting quietly in the cinema Compliance Sitting quietly in the cinema

Internalisation Joining a church

Not swearing when you’re with your grandparents Compliance Not swearing when you’re with your grandparents

Identification Becoming a ‘Belieber’

Joining an animal rights demonstration Idenification Joining an animal rights demonstration

There we go – we have now examined the three types of conformity, compliance identification and itnernalisation and the two explanations of why people conform NSI and ISI. Now let’s apply these ideas to an application question.

Outline what is meant by the terms compliance and identification. Refer to real life examples to illustrate your points (6) Compliance is a type of conformity where people go along with the majority publically but retain different views privately. This type of conformity usually occurs because of normative social influence. An example of compliance is when you say you like a song that your friends are enthusiastic about even though you really like a different kind of music. We do this in order to fit in and be liked and to avoid rejection from the group. Identification is a type of conformity where we go along with a majority both publicly and privately but this is only a temporary change. When the social pressures of the group are no longer there we no longer identify with their views or beliefs. An example would be going to university and becoming a vegan because many of your friends at university were vegan. You would do this publicly and privately until leaving university and reverting back to a meat eater.

Exam question (AO2) Joseph, Jim and Graham have just started new jobs at SDC and all three are keen to do well. Graham laughs a lot at the jokes his colleagues tells, even though they’re not funny. Joseph watches his colleagues closely and makes sure that he completes work exactly as they do, to avoid making mistakes. Jim prefers to learn through trial and error. He believes that by it is only by making mistakes, that he will really understand what he is doing. Which person’s behaviour is being influenced by normative social influence and which person’s behaviour is being influenced by informational social influence? Justify both choices. [6 marks]. Here’s a potential exam-style question. READ Now before you begin an AO2 application question it is important to highlight the STEM (extract). Now it’s clear that Jim isn’t conforming at all, therefore we need to use the information in relation to Graham and Joseph. Let’s shift the question up and see how we could answer it.

Joseph, Jim and Graham have just started new jobs at SDC and all three are keen to do well. Graham laughs a lot at the jokes his colleagues tells, even though they’re not funny. Joseph watches his colleagues closely and makes sure that he completes work exactly as they do, to avoid making mistakes. Jim prefers to learn through trial and error. He believes that by it is only by making mistakes, that he will really understand what he is doing. Which person’s behaviour is being influenced by normative social influence and which person’s behaviour is being influenced by informational social influence? Justify both choices. [6 marks]. APPLICATION 1: NSI is where a person conforms to be accept and belong to a group, despite privately disagreeing. [APPLY] Graham is demonstrating NSI as he is “laughing at the jokes his colleagues tell” (conforming to be part of the group), “even though they’re not funny” (while privately disagreeing). Firstly, we could start by defining our term. Then it’s key that we apply our knowledge and I highly recommend quoting from the extract. For example.

ISI is where a person conforms to gain knowledge and/or be right. Joseph, Jim and Graham have just started new jobs at SDC and all three are keen to do well. Graham laughs a lot at the jokes his colleagues tells, even though they’re not funny. Joseph watches his colleagues closely and makes sure that he completes work exactly as they do, to avoid making mistakes. Jim prefers to learn through trial and error. He believes that by it is only by making mistakes, that he will really understand what he is doing. Which person’s behaviour is being influenced by normative social influence and which person’s behaviour is being influenced by informational social influence? Justify both choices. [6 marks]. APPLICATION 2: ISI is where a person conforms to gain knowledge and/or be right. [APPLY] Joseph is demonstrating ISI as he “watches his colleagues closely and makes sure that he completes work exactly as they do, to avoid making mistakes”, therefore he is conforming as he wants to be complete his work correctly and be right. Now let’s do the same for Joseph. We start by defining our term.

Polly always checks what her friends are going to wear before she gets ready to go out because she does not like to be the odd one out. Jed watches his colleagues carefully when he starts a new job so that he can work out where to put his things and how long to take for lunch. Discuss two explanations for conformity. Refer to Polly and Jed in your discussion. [12 marks]