Lessons from Conformity and Obedience Research

Lessons from conformity research:

Asch highlighted the importance of a dissent which breaks the power of the majority and encourages others to dissent leading to social change. Environmental and health campaigns use conformity processes by appealing to normative social influence. E.g. preventing young people from smoking by telling them that most other young people do not smoke. Social change is encouraged by drawing attention to what the majority are doing.

Lessons from obedience research:

Milgram's research shows the importance of a disobedient role model. In the variation where a confederate teacher refuses to give shocks to the learner, the rate of obedience dropped. Zimbardo suggested obedience can be used to create social change through gradual commitment. Once a small instruction is obeyed it becomes more difficult to resist a bigger one. People drift into a new kind of behaviour.

• There is research to support that conformity can lead to social change through normative social influence. Nolan et…