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What Is Conformity?
 Change in behavior or belief as the result of real or
imagined group pressure
 Three types of conformity



Acceptance: Conformity that involves both acting as expected
and having internalized the action
Compliance: Conformity that involves publicly acting in line
of an implied or explicit request, while publicly disagreeing
Obedience: Acting in accord with a direct order or command,
often from a person who holds power over the individual
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Is Conformity Good or Bad?
 This question has no scientific answer: At times it may
be bad, at times good, and at times inconsequential
 In Western, individualistic societies the word
“conformity” carries a negative value judgment
 In Asian cultures, that tend to be more collectivistic,
going along with others is not a sign of weakness but
of tolerance
 In such cultures people know what to expect from each
other
More about the Meaning of Conformity
 Conformity is not just acting the way other people act;
it is also being affected by how they act
 It is acting or thinking differently from the way you
would act or think if you were alone
 The key is to consider whether your behavior and
beliefs would be the same apart from the group which
serves as your reference
 Conformity is an important topic in Social Psychology,
as it can lead people to do terrible things to other
people.
The Nature of the Conformity Studies
 Social psychologists who study conformity and
obedience usually conduct their study in the lab,
where they attempt to simulate (imitate) important
aspects of everyday social influence
 Let us remember that we all are sensitive to social
expectations from people around us, as we have
evolved, in the context of our evolutionary history, to
depend on group acceptance and support for our
survival.
 The conformity and obedience studies described here
are milestone studies
Sherif’s Norm Formation studies
(1935, 1937)
 Sherif used in his studies a visual illusion called the
autokinetic phenomenon.
 In a dark room there is a stationary point of light; that
is, the light does not move
 The as a person watches, the light starts to seem to be
moving (actually it remains static), then disappear
 This phenomenon is based on the fact that in the
absence of stimulation, the brain creates its own
stimulation
 A subject was asked to estimate how far has the point
of light moved; in reality the light never moved !!
Results of Sherif’s Study
 Subjects heard via earphones responses of other
“participants” (actually instructed by the experimenter
to give “false” responses)
 The subjects changed their estimates markedly
 This study illustrated the power of suggestibility
What Are the Classic Conformity
and Obedience Studies?
 Sherif’s Studies of Norm
Formation
 Used autokinetic
phenomenon then asked
groups of men to
determine how much the
point of light had moved
– the responses of the
men changed markedly
 The point of light never
moved
A Sample Group from Sherif’s Study of Norm Formation
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What Are the Classic Conformity
and Obedience Studies?
 Sherif’s Studies of Norm Formation
 Suggestibility
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


Contagious yawning
Chameleon effect
Mimicry
Mass hysteria
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What Are the Classic Conformity
and Obedience Studies?
 Asch’s Studies of Group
Pressure
 Perceptual judgment
experiment
 Six confederates gave
incorrect answers to see
if participant would
agree even if he knew it
was the incorrect
answer
Sample Comparison from Solomon Asch’s Conformity Procedure
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Asch Studies of Group Pressure
 In contrast to the subjects in Sherif Studies, using the
autokinetic phenomenon which presented an ambiguous
situation seen for the first time, Asch’s subjects could see
clearly which line was the right comparison.
 Three-quarters of the subjects in the line-comparison
experiment gave the wrong answer at least once when the
other members of the group (confederates of the
experimenter) gave the wrong answer
 This experiment lacked “mundane realism” but had
“experimental realism” : the subjects became emotionally
involved .
What Are the Classic Conformity
and Obedience Studies?
 Milgram’s Obedience
Experiments
 Tested what happens
when the demands of
authority clash with the
demands of conscience


Teacher “shocks” learner at
the insistence of
experimenter
65 percent of participants
continued beyond
expectations
Figure 6.4 - Milgram’s Obedience Experiment
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The Background of Milgarm’s Obedience Studies
 During the second World War (1939-1945) the Nazi
regime in Germany systematically killed 6 million
Jewish people and other groups (e.g. gay, mentallyretarded) that were deemed “inferior”
 This is known as the Holocaust
 After the defeat of the Nazi regime those Nazi leaders
that did not escape to South America were brought to
justice
 In the trial they claimed that they were just obeying
orders
 Milgram wanted to test this argument in the lab
Results of Milgram Obedience Studies
 Sixty-five percent of the participants (those who were
the “teachers” who administered the “shocks” to the
“learner” who made mistakes) went all the way to
administer the highest level of the “electrical shock” to
the learner, even when the “learner” was screaming
and yelling “Get me out of here”
 When the “teacher” was hesitating to continue the
experimenter just gave verbal prods, such as “The
experiment requires that you continue”
Under what Conditions was the Obedience
greatest?
 The victim’s distance: When the “learner” was in the
other room and was silent
 When the “learner” was in the same room “only” 40%
obeyed to the maximum 450 volts (described as
“deadly” on the “shock machine”)
 Today people post nasty comments on the Internet
 In the Holocaust the Nazi devised a killing method
that would visually separate he killers and their victims
 They constructed concrete gas champers and
administered poisonous gas via “showers”
Conditions (cont-d): Closeness and
Legitimacy of the Authority
 The physical presence of the experimenter also
affected obedience
 When the experimenter gave the commands by
telephone full obedience dropped to 21%
 The authority must be perceived as legitimate
 Note hospital studies how nurses were ready to obey a
physician command (an unknown “physician” who
gave a clearly dangerous command involving
medication to a patient)
 The physician is clearly an authority in the hospital
Conditions (cont-d): Institutional Authority
 One of the explanations given by the subjects in
Milgram’s studies was that if not the prestige of Yale
University, where the study had been conducted, they
would not have had obeyed
 In response to this claim Milgram moved the study to
store-front facility that did not have Yale’s fame
 Under this condition 48% of the participants obeyed
and admisitered the shock to its highest, lethal level.
What Are the Classic Conformity
and Obedience Studies?
 Ethics of Milgram's Experiment
 Critics said the Milgram’s experiment stressed the
participants against their will
 They argued that the participants’ self-concepts may
have been altered
 Milgram stated that the ethical controversy was “terribly
overblown”
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What Are the Classic Conformity
and Obedience Studies?
 Reflections on the Classic Studies
 Behavior and attitudes


Mutually reinforcing
A small act of evil to foster the attitude that leads to a larger
evil act
 Power of the situation

Heroism can occur as well as evil
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What Predicts Conformity?
 Group Size
 3 to 5 people will elicit more conformity than just 1 or 2
 Groups greater in size than 5 yields diminishing returns
 Unanimity
 Observing another’s dissent – even when it is wrongcan increase our own independence
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What Predicts Conformity?
 Cohesion
 “We feeling”; extent to which members of a group are
bound together, such as by attraction for one another

The more cohesive a group is, the more power it gains over its
members
 Status
 Higher-status people tend to have more impact
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What Predicts Conformity?
 Public Response
 People conform more when they must respond in front
of others rather than writing their answers privately
 Prior Commitment
 Most people having made a public commitment stick to
it

Example: Teens who make a public virginity-till-marriage
pledge become somewhat more likely to remain sexually
abstinent
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Why Conform?
 Normative Influence
 Based on a person's desire to fulfill others’ expectations,
often to gain acceptance

Produced by social image
 Informational Influence
 Occurring when people accept evidence about reality
provided by other people

Produced by desire to be correct
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Who Conforms?
 Personality
 Is a poor predictor of conformity; situations are better
 Culture
 Different cultures socialize people to be more or less
socially responsive
 Social Roles
 Conforming to expectations is an important task when
taking on a new social role

Role reversal
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Do We Ever Want to Be Different?
 Reactance
 Motive to protect or restore one’s sense of freedom

Arises when someone threatens our freedom of action
 Asserting Uniqueness
 We act in ways that preserve our sense of individuality

In a group, we are most conscious of how we differ from others
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