Psychology Social influence:Conformity

Conformity is a change in person's behaviour as a result of real or imagined pressure from someone, or a group of people.

Internalisation is a deep type of conformity where we take on the majority view because we accept it as correct. It leads to a permanent change of behaviour, even when the group is absent.

Identification is a moderate type of conformity, where we act in the same way as the group because there is something we value about it. We don't necessarily agree with everything the majority believes.

Compliance is a temporary type of conformity where we go along with the majority view publicly, but privately, we disagree with it. The change lasts as long as we are within the group.

Informational Social Influence (ISI) is an explanation of conformity that states we agree with the opinion of the majority as we believe it is correct. We accept it as we want to be correct too. ISI is a cognitive process because it is to do with what you think. It is most likely to occur in ambiguous situations, where decisions have to be made quickly, or when one person in a group is viewed as more of an expert. This may lead to internalisation.

Normative Social Influence (NSI) is an explanation of conformity that states we agree with the opinion of the majority because we want to be accepted, gain social approval, and be liked. We prefer to gain social approval over being rejected, so NSI is an emotional process rather than a cognitive one. It is most likely to occut in situations with strangers, but also with friends, when you're concerned about the approval from them.

- Research supports ISI. Lucas et al. asked students to give answers to mathematical problems that ranged in difficulty. He found that there was greater conformity to incorrect answers when they were harder compared to easy. This was particularly true for those students who rated their math ability as poor. This study therefore supports ISI as they don't know the answer.

- Research also supports NSI. When Asch asked his participants why they went along with the wrong answer, they said it was because they were afraid of disapproval.

- Individual differences have been found in NSI. There are some people who are less concerned with being liked, and therefore they are less affected by NSI. nAffiliators are people who have a greater need for being in a relationship with others. This shows that the desire to be liked underlies conformity for some people more than others.

- Individual differences have been found in ISI. Perrin and Spencer conducted a study with engineering students and have found very little conformity.

- ISI and NSI work together.In Asch's experiment, conformity is reduced when there is one other dissenting participant. This dissenter might either reduce power of NSI by providing social support, or reducing the power of ISI, as there's another source of information.