SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

WHAT IS CONFORMITY?

WHAT ARE THE THREE TYPES OF CONFORMITY?

WHAT IS MEANT BY COMPLIANCE?

WHAT WAS THE AIM OF ASCH'S STUDY?

WHAT WAS THE PROCEDURE?

WHAT DID HE FIND?

WHAT DID HE CONCLUDE?

Change behaviour or attitudes in response to influence of others / social pressure

Compliance, Identificatoion, Internalisation

investigate extent to which social pressure form a majority group could affect a person to conform

Used line judgment task - 1 participant in room with 7 confederates - in some trials confederates gave wrong answer - would real participant conform

32% conformed - 25% didn't conform at all

When he interviewd paritipant he found people conformed for 2 reasons, because they want to fit in with group, or they believe the group is better informed than they are

WHAT IS MEANT BY INTERNALISATION?

WHAT IS MINORITY INFLUENCE?

WHAT WAS CLARKS AIM AND PROCEDURE IN THE FIRST STUDY?

WHAT DID HE FIND?

WHAT WAS CLARKA AIM AND PROCEDURE IN SECOND STUDY?

WHAT DID HE FIND?

People internalise the views and become part of the persons own way of thinking

Individual / small group influence majority to change attitudes or behaviour

To see whether minority could influence through information presented - participants given booklet on 12 angry men story with evidence for defendants guilt - some given evidence for his innocence

Information can sway us to minority view

Can people change their view through seeing others change opinion - ppt given summary of discussion containing for and aganinst his guilt - varied number of defectors form 1-6

Watching other people change mind sways us to minority view - after 4-7 changed mind people more likely to change - after 4 ceiling of influence is reached

WHAT IS MEANT BY IDENTIFICATION?

OUTLINE ZIMBARDO'S STUDY?

WHAT WERE THE FINDINGS?

WHAT ARE THE METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES OF THIS EXPERIMENT?

WHAT ARE THE ETHICAL ISSUES?

Individual takes on view of group they join

Male students given role of prisoner or guard - Prisoners were arrested and refferred to by number - guards were given uniform, trunchons and dark glasses - told to keep prisoners under control but to use no physical violence

First day prisoners rebelled - Guard responded by humiliating punishments - prisoners became depressed and very stressed - experiment called of after 6 days

Sample not be generalised - high ecologicl validity (felt like real prison)

fully informed consent obtined - risk of psychological and physical harm - Zimbado became to involved - lots of councelling was needed

HOW HAS ASCH SHOWN THE SIZE OF MAJORITY CAN AFFECT CONFORMITY?

WHY IS TIME IMPORTANT TO CONFORMITY?

HOW IS CONFORMITY AFFECTED BY DIFFERENT CULTURES?

HOW DOES MODERN TECHNOLOGY AFFECT CONFORMITY?

Conformity at max with three-to-five person majority - majority of 15 lower levels

Extent to which people conform depends on differnt times, places and people e.g Asch study carries out in 1950s American when conformity was high

Individualistic cultures conform less - Collectivist cultures conform more

Conformity may be less when people communicate using technology rather than face-to-face