Conformity

It is defined as yielding to group pressure.

Conformity occurs when an individual's behaviour and/or beliefs are influenced by a large group of people.

Conformity is also know as majority influence.

The first type of conformity is COMPLIANCE

It occurs when an individual ajusts their behaviour and opinions to those of a group to be accepted or avoid disapproval.

Compliance occurs as a desire to fit in and therefore involves public but not private acceptance of a group's behaviour and attitudes.

As a result it is fairly weak and is also a temporary form of conformity which is only shown in the presence of that group.

The second type of conformity is IDENTIFICATION.

This type of conformity occurs when an individual adjusts their behaviour and opinions to those of a group because they wish to become a part of that group.

Identification involves the private as well as public acceptance of a group's behaviour and attitudes.

It is another temporary form of conformity as it is not maintained when an individual leaves the group who held those attitudes.

The third type of conformity is INTERNALISATION which is also known as true conformity.

It occurs when an individual genuinly adjusts their behaviour and opinions to those of a group.

Internalisation involves an individual being exposed to the belief system of others and having to decide what they truely believe in.

It will lead to both the public and private acceptance of the group's behaviour and opinions, which will not be dependant on the presence of the group or a group member for maintainace of these views, if the group's beliefs are seen as right/correct.

It can also occur through minority imfluence.

Informational social influence is about the desire to be right and about information.

In many cases we are uncertain about what beliefs or behaviours are right or wrong so we look for others for help and normally go along with what they are saying because we believe them to be right
This especially occurs if one person in the group is seen to be more experienced or expert than others.

ISI mainly occurs in situations that are ambiguous (unclear) and it also may happen when decisions have to be made quickly.

Normative social influence is about the deire to behave like others, norms and about not looking foolish.

It normally occurs when it concerns something 'normal' or a typical behaviour of a group (the norms of the group) and is more likely to occur in situations where you don't know the norms and therefore look to others about how to behave.
Norms regulate the behaviour of all groups and individuals so we tend to pay more attention to them more.

NSI mainly occurs in unfamiliar situations with people that we know and it is more imortant with people that we know rather than with strangers due to the deire to have social approval of friends.

It may be more pronounced in stressful situations where people have a desire/need for social support.

STRENGTH

Lucas et al. (2006) conducted a study where they asked students increasingly more difficult maths probelms.

They found that there was more conformity to incorrect answers when the probelms were more difficult and they also found that this was strongest for the student who rated their maths skills as poor.

This study proves that people conform in situations where they feel less comfortable and where they do not know the answer.
It proves that we look to others and assume that they know better than us and must therefore be right.

STRENGTH

Asch (1951) asked participants of his study why they agreed with the wrong answer to this, some said that they felt self-conscious in giving the right answer and were afriad of disapproval of the group.

When Asch repeated the study and asked his participants to write down their answers, the conformity rates fell to 12.5%.

This supports the self reports of the participants that they were conforming because of NSI.

LIMITATION

Asch (1955) found that when he completed his study with students, they were less conformist (28%) than the other participants (37%).

Perrin and Spencer (1980) also completed a study using engineering students (so they were more confident about precision than others) and found that they were less conformist.

This shows that people who are more knowledgable and/or more confident are less influenced by the apparently 'right' view of the majority.

This therefore means that there are some differences as to how individuals respond to ISI.

LIMITATION

People who care more about being liked are more affected by NSI, they are known as nAffiliators- people who have a greater need for social relationships.

McGhee and Teevan (1967) found that students who were nAffiliators were more likely to conform.

The desire to be liked generally underlies conformity for some people more than others.

This means that one general thepry does not cover the fact that there are individual and group differences.