Social Influence Types of conformity

Specification

PSYA2 Assessment 1 hour 30 minutes exam = 50% of the total AS marks = 25% of the total A2 marks Three compulsory structured questions, one based on Biological Psychology (Stress), one based on Social Psychology (Social Influence ) and one based on Individual Differences (Abnormality). Questions include short answer, stimulus material and one or more: Biological Psychology, Social Psychology, & Individual Differences 12-mark questions requiring extended writing in which QWC will be assessed.

Kelman (1958) Proposed three different types of conformity Fill these in on page 3 of your booklet. Compliance Identification Internalisation

Compliance Adjusting your behaviour to fit with the majority, this is public but not private. Think of an example..

Internalisation People can accept the views of other members of a group if their ideas match their own. This is public and private. Use a current news story as an example

Identification This is the combination of internalisation and compliance where a person changes their beliefs in order to be like the influencer.

Sherif (1935)

Jenness (1932) Aim: To investigate conformity according to informational social influence (desire to be right). Procedure: A bean jar, with an unknown value of beans inside was shown to a group of individuals. First the experimenter would question the participants individually about what their estimate of the number of beans there are in the jar. Then the participants were told to share their estimates in a group. Finally they were asked individually again to estimate the number of beans in the jar. Results: The participants showed a shift towards a group estimate, rather than their own estimate. Almost all changed their individual estimate, in line with the group estimate. Conclusion: This confirms the hypothesis that individuals will conform to a group decision when they are looking for information or seeking to be correct. Criticisms: This is a lab study; therefore it lacks ecological validity as the experiment was conducted in an artificial environment. The study does include some deception, as participants were not informed about the aims of the study. Strength: Easy to replicate and therefore we can test its reliability easily.

Asch (1956) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyDDyT1lDhA

Asch’s Aim Asch’s aim was to see if participants would yield to majority social influence and give incorrect answers in a situation when the correct answers were always obvious.

Asch’s Method Seven male, student participants looked at two cards: the test card showed one vertical line; the other card showed three vertical lines of different length. The participants’ task was to call out, in turn, which of these three lines was the same length as the test line. The correct answer was always obvious. All participants, except one, were accomplices of the experimenter (stooges). The genuine participants called out his answer last but one, or last. Accomplices gave unanimous wrong answers on 12 of the 18 trials. These 12 trials were called the critical trials. In total, Asch used 123 male college students in this study.

Asch’s Results Participants conformed to the unanimous incorrect answer on 36.8% of the critical trials. This might not strike you as a very high figure but remember the correct answer was always obvious. 75% of participants conformed at least once. 25% of participants never conformed. Some of these ‘independent’ participants were confident in their judgements. More often, however, they experienced tension and doubt but managed to resist the pressure exerted by the unanimous majority.

Why do people conform? Page 162 of the textbook Distortion of perception The participants came to see the line in the same way as the majority. Why do people conform? Page 162 of the textbook Distortion of judgement They doubted their own view and went along with the majority. Distortion of action The participant trusted their own judgement privately but changed public behaviour to avoid disapproval.

Final Activity: Complete the task on page 6 of your booklet