1. The Sociocultural Level of Analysis
Session 6: Conformity

2. Learning Outcome Evaluate research on conformity to group norms
What the command term means:
Evaluate: Make an appraisal by weighing up the strengths and limitations.

3. What is conformity?

4. What is conformity?
Conformity: the tendency to adjust one’s thoughts, feelings, or behavior in ways that are in agreement with those of a particular individual or group, or with accepted standards about how a person should behave in specific situations (social norms).

5. Can you think of any examples of where you might have conformed?

6. Some examples of conformity
A teenager dresses in a certain style because he wants to fit in with the rest of the guys in his social group.
A 20-year-old college student drinks at a sorority party because all her friends are doing it and she does not want to be the odd one out.
A woman reads a book for her book club and really enjoys it. When she attends her book club meeting, the other members all disliked the book. Rather than go against the group opinion, she simply agrees with the others that the book was terrible.
A student is unsure about the answer to a particular question posed by the teacher. When another student in the class provides an answer, the confused student concurs with the answer believing that the other student is smarter and better informed.

7. Watch the following videos
A challenge…
Watch the following videos
I want you to imagine that you are a research psychologist; which is kind of like being a detective of social interactions.
Your job is to watch the following situations as carefully as you can so that you can try and figure out what is going on in them, especially things which may not be immediately obvious.
As much as possible, I want you to try and imagine what it might be like to be in each situation; hearing, seeing, and knowing only what these people do.
Make an effort to put yourself inside the mind of the individuals in the videos and to go beyond the surface of the situations.
Try and identify what each person present might be thinking and feeling, and how these perceptions might be influencing their choices.

8. But WHY do people conform
Informational Influence
Normative Influence

9. Informational Influence
After watching a group, we often come to the belief that the group has a better understanding of the situation than we do, or has special information or expertise.
In this situation, we conform unconsciously because we honestly believe that the group knows better than we do.

10. The process of informational influence
An individual first encounters the group.
Information is received by the group that is in some way unclear or ambiguous.
The group interprets this information.
The individual changes their perception of what is happening to match the group because they believe the group knows better
Here conformity occurs because the individual actually believes that the group’s perceptions are more accurate than their own. Thus, the conformity in this case is entirely subconscious; the person never even realises that it has occurred.

11. Normative Influence
People tend to feel extremely uncomfortable when speaking out against a group, even when they know that group is in the wrong.
The desire to be accepted and liked convinces group members to keep disagreements or uncomfortable questions to themselves.
In this situation, we conform because we want the group to like and respect us, and we give in to their expectations, even when we know that they are wrong.

12. The process of normative influence
An individual first encounters the group.
Information is received by the group that is in some way unclear or ambiguous.
The group interprets this information.
The individual changes their behaviourof what is happening to match the group because they want to be liked and accepted.
Here, an individual will agree with and conform to something that they know is wrong, just to fit in. In this case, the person knows that they are making the wrong choice, but it is more important for the group to like them, so they go ahead with it anyway.

13. Why do you think the people in the videos conform?
Back to the videos…
Why do you think the people in the videos conform?

14. Conformity People have a basic need to belong
We therefore conform to group norms to gain the sense of belonging
Cultural norm – set of rules based on social and cultural conventions that act as a guide for people’s behavior (so they can conform and belong)
Conformity is how norms are passed down within cultures and society

15. Research into conformity
Asch (1951) Experimental investigation of conformity to the majority
Sherif (1936) Experimental investigation of conformity to perceived group norms

16. Your task Read through the article on Asch’s research
Make notes on his methodology and evaluation points for the study

17. Conformity study 1: Asch (1951)

18. Asch (1951)
Aim: to investigate whether perceived group pressure by a majority can influence a minority in an experimental set up that is not ambiguous

19. Asch (1951) Procedure: 123 university students participated
Participant told participating in a study on visual judgment
7 males were placed around 2 white cards
6 of them wearing suits and ties
There was only one real participant who was naïve to the experimental set-up
The other 6 were confederates who had been instructed to give unanimously incorrect answers
One card had three lines (A, B, C) and another had one line.
Participants were asked to say aloud which of the 3 lines on the first card matched the single line on the second card. There were 18 trials for each participant.
In some of the trials, the difference between lines was hardly noticeable and in others it was very clear
Although confederates gave some correct answers they gave unanimous incorrect responses were given for majority of the trials
Also a control group of 37 participants made estimates alone for comparison

20. Asch, 1951
Control group
Experimental group

21. Asch, 1951 Results 75% agreed with an incorrect response at least once
32% agreed with incorrect response at least half the time
24% never conformed
In the control group participants made mistakes less than 1% of the time

22. Asch (1951)
Results
During the debriefing Asch asked the participants how they felt.
All reported experiencing some degree of self doubt but agreed with the confederate because they did not want to be appear to be against the group.
Some argue that this could also be explained in terms of the “need to belong” – the need to be part of the group is stronger than the desire to give

23. What were the strengths and limitations of the study?

24. Evaluation of Asch (1951) Strengths
A high degree of control over the variables ensures that a cause and effect relationship can be established between the variables.
Results of the study have been replicated several times which suggests that the results are reliable
The result of the experiment can, to some extent, offer an explanation for why people conform to social and cultural norms in real life

25. Evaluation of Asch (1951) Limitations
Low ecological validity: laboratory tasks are artificial and somewhat difficult to generalise to real life situations. Critics of Asch have suggested that his research lacks ecological validity. How often are we faced with making a judgment like the one he used where the answer is plain to see ? Asch replied that he wanted to investigate a situation where the participants could be in no doubt what the correct answer was. In so doing he could explore the true limits of social influence.
The experiment was conducted in the USA with male students as participants. There may be an issue with the generalisability of the results. Differences in conformity across cultures?

26. Evaluation of Asch (1951) Limitations Ethics
His participants did not provide fully informed consent because they were misled about key aspects of the experimental procedure ( e.g.. presence of confederates).
In addition, they were put in an embarrassing and difficult position.
Evidence that participants in Asch-type situations are highly emotional was obtained by Bogdonoff et al (1961) who found that participants in the Asch situation had greatly increased levels of autonomic arousal. This finding also suggests that they were in a conflict situation, finding it hard to decide whether to report what they saw or to conform to the opinion of others.

27. Evaluation of Asch (1951) Limitations
Some critics thought the high levels of conformity found by Asch were a reflection of American, 1950's culture and tell us more about the historical and cultural climate of the USA in the 1950’s than then they do about the phenomena of conformity.
Perrin and Spenser suggested that the Asch effect was a "child of its time".
They carried out an exact replication of the original Asch experiment using engineering, mathematics and chemistry students as subjects. The results were clear-cut: on only one out of 396 trials did an observer join the erroneous majority. They argue that a cultural change has taken place in the value placed on conformity and obedience and in the position of students.
However one problem in comparing these studies is that sometimes very different types of participants are used.
Perrin and Spencer used science and engineering students who might be expected to be more independent by training when it came to making perceptual judgments

28. Evaluation of Asch (1951) Limitations
Nicholsen et al (1985) also suggest that participants now tend to conform less in Asch like experiments.
This could indicate that levels of conformity are context dependent and may change over time.

29. Conformity Study 2: Sherif (1935)

30. Sherif (1935)
Aim: to investigate conformity to group norms using the autokinetic effect.

31. What is the autokinetic effect?
Sherif (1935)
What is the autokinetic effect?
This is an optical illusion experienced when a person is placed in a totally dark room in which a stationary point of light appears to move because the person’s perceptual system has no frame of reference for it.

32. Sherif (1935)
Sherif put subjects in a dark room and told them to watch a pinpoint of light and report how far it moved.
Psychologists had previously discovered that a small, unmoving light in a dark room often appeared to be moving (autokinetic effect). The autokinetic effect is an illusion because the light does not actually move. However, people almost always believe that it does.
Realizing that an experience that is completely "in people's heads" might be readily influenced by suggestion, Sherif decided to study how people were influenced by other people's opinions, in their perception of the autokinetic effect.
First Sherif studied how subjects reacted to the autokinetic effect when they were in a room by themselves. He found that they soon established their own individual norms for the judgment—usually 2 to 6 inches.
In other words, when given many opportunities (trials) to judge the movement of the light, they settled on a distance of 2-6 inches and became consistent in making this judgment from trial to trial.

33. Sherif (1935) What happened when people were put into groups?
In the next phase of the experiment, groups of subjects were put in the dark room, 2 or 3 at a time, and asked to agree on a judgment.
Sherif noted a tendency to compromise. People who usually made an estimate like 6 inches soon made smaller judgments like 4 inches. Those who saw less movement, such as 2 inches, soon increased their judgments to about 4 inches. People changed to more resemble the others in the group.
Sherif's subjects were not aware of this social influence. When Sherif asked subjects directly, "Were you influenced by the judgments of other persons during the experiments," most denied it.
However, when subjects were tested one at a time, later, most now conformed to the group judgment they recently made. A subject who previously settled on an estimate of 2 inches or 6 inches was more likely (after the group experience) to say the light was moving about 4 inches. These subjects had been changed by the group experience, whether they realised it or not. They had increased their conformity to group norms.

34. Sherif (1935)

35. Sherif (1935)
Conclusions: Results showed that social norms emerge to guide behaviour when people find themselves in uncertain situations

36. Evaluation of Sherif (1935)
Strengths
One of most influential experiments in social psychology. It has generated a lot of research and support.
Study demonstrates how a group norm can be established and continue to influence a person’s judgment even when the social influence is no longer present

37. Evaluation of Sherif (1935)
Limitations
The experiment was conducted in a laboratory. Task was artificial and ambiguous and this could influence results.
Ethics: participants were not informed about the purpose of the experiment though this was not the norm at the time that this experiment was conducted.

38. Discuss factors that influence conformity
Learning Outcome
Discuss factors that influence conformity
What the command term means:
Discuss: Offer a considered and balanced review that includes a range of arguments,
factors or hypotheses. Opinions or conclusions should be presented clearly and supported by appropriate evidence.

39. Back to Asch
The Asch study has been replicated many times and is referred to as the Asch paradigm
Out of these replications and variations, psychologists have found that there a different factors that influence the likelihood to conform to a group

40. Factors affecting conformity
Group Size
Unanimity
Confidence
Self-Esteem
Culture

41. Number of Confederates % of Participants who Conformed
1. Group Size
Asch (1955) made variations of original study by altering amount of confederates
Number of Confederates
% of Participants who Conformed 1 3% 2
14% 3
32%

42. 1. Group Size

43. 2. Unanimity
Asch (1956) also tried introducing social support to the naïve participant, either another naïve participant or a confederate who had been instructed to go along with naïve participant
Presence of a supporter significantly reduced errors from 35% to around 5%.
This was particularly the case if the supporter responded before the majority

44. 2. Unanimity
One naïve supporter
Participant alone

45. 3. Confidence
When individuals feels that they are more competent to make decisions with regard to a field of expertise they are less likely to conform.
Perrin and Spenser (1988) found that when they replicated Asch’s study with engineers and medical students, conformity rates were almost nil.

46. 4. Self-Esteem
Stang (1973) found that participants with high self-esteem were less likely to conform

47. 5. Culture
In the original study, culture could have limited validity of findings as only one culture was studied (USA).
Research has shown that there are cultural variations in conformity

48. 5. Culture
Bond & Smith (1996)
Meta-analysis of 133 studies in 17 countries on Asch paradigm
Found higher conformity rates in collectivist cultures compared to individualistic cultures
Level of conformity (i.e. % of incorrect answers) ranged from 15% in an experiment with Belgian students to 58% among Indian teachers in Fiji.

49. 5. Culture
Berry (1967)
Used a variation of Asch’s conformity experiment to study whether conformity rates among Temne in Sierra Leone in Africa and Inuits of Baffin Island in Canada could be linked to social norms and socialisation practices
Inuits Culture
Score low on conformity
Hunters and hunt alone
Child-rearing practices emphasize
self-reliance because its needed within culture
Temne Culture
People had high conformity rates
Culture based on agriculture & dependent on cooperation for farming
Emphasises obedience in child rearing

50. 5. Culture Kagitcibasi (1984)
Studied socialisation patterns in 9 countries (Indonesia, South Korea, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, USA & Germany)
20,000 interviews with parents on qualities they considered most desirable in children
Parents from Turkey and Indonesia found it important children obeyed them and did not emphasise independence.
Opposite was found in USA.
Parents in Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand also tended to emphasize self-reliance rather than obedience.
Researchers suggested that in some countries, modernisation and breakup of extended family system in some collectivist cultures may be responsible for some of emphasis on independence.