conformity
types of conformity (19)
internalisation
identification
compliance
conforming to gain approval or avoid disapproval - to do this they will observe others' actions so they can better fit in which is seen as desirable and motivates them to conform
when your views align with the group's views - this can occur by coincident or by close examination of the group convincing yourself you are wrong and you should change your views (usually when there is a trustworthy group) - public and private change (there is no drive to fit in)
is adopting a person or group attitude to fit in - identification has elements of both internalisation as the person adopts attitudes and behaviours as right and true and compliance as the purpose of it is to be accepted as a member of the group
example: for example a child may start smoking because that's what the cool kids do and they want to be seen as a cool kid
difference between them
each type depends on the motivation condition - if prime motivation is to fin in or avoid standing out you are complying rather then internalising where as if primary motivation is to find most appropriate way of responding in a situation then internalising is teh best way of doing this
explanation for conformity (19)
normative social influence (desire to be liked)
• As people we have a need to be accepted
• To gain acceptance and make a favourable impression we are a encouraged to conform
• This results in compliance (the desire to be liked)
Change publicly so as to be liked but not private change of opinion
Informational social influence (desire to be right)
• People have a basic need to evaluate their attitudes in order to check they are correct
• Therefore in ambiguous situation we might change (conform ) our view in line with others
This results in internalisation, change in public and private behaves and beliefs
some times it can be difficult to see the between them as a persons opinion might change or they might
variables affecting conformity (20)
group size
in asch's experiment he found that if there was only one other confederate conformity was low. when 3 more were added conformity increase to 30%. after more were added conformiton onley increased bye small amounts.
Campbell and Fairy
answer is wright or wrong - only 1 or 2 confederates with correct answer are neaded to sway participant
if answer is opinionated and person wants to fit in - larger maajority = more conformity
unanimity of the majority
in a variation of ash experiment a 'dissenter' would neater give majority answer or right answer
this lead to conformity rates drop to 9% nearly as grate as if dissenter gave correct answer this led ash to conclude breaking the groups unanimous position was the the main factor in conformity reduction
difficulty
as task was made harder conformity increased
lucas et al. - found that task difficulty is moderated of the self-efficacy (self confidence )
e.g when when an ash like excrement was conducted except with maths problems participants with higher self-efficacy were more independent compared to low self-efficacy participants even when questions were very hard
this shows situational difference and individual differences are both important in conformity
a child of its time - where situations in history may have an affect of people in experiment and affect results this may have affected ashes experiment
in the 1956 the US was experiencing McCarthyism a strong anti-communist period . people where scared to go against majority
experiment was then recreated in 1980 they only found one conforming perosn out of 396.
they then used younger people as participants and probation officers as confederates these resulted reflected Asch results
this shows that if cost of not confirming is higher then conformity is hier which was the case in McCarthy area in the US
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independent behavior
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conformity to social roles
key study (Stanford prison experiment )
procedure
a mock prison was set up at stanford uni
24 volunteers were chosen from physical screening to be ether prisoner or guard
prisoners were unexpectedly arrested and given prison uniform and given ID numbers which they were referred to
guards were given uniforms, clubs, whistles, and sunglasses
the study was meant to last for 2 weeks but only lasted 6 days
findings
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