CONFORMITY
In this lesson, we will talk about:
• What is conformity?
• Why do people conform?
• How does conformity take shape in real life?
Hans Christian Anderson
The Emperor’s new clothes
People SAY the clothes are great
Some people believe it
Some people know he’s naked …
… but they are afraid to say anything
… maybe people will dislike them
They don’t want disharmony
They go with the flow
They just try to fit in
So everyone goes with the flow
Until a little boy points out …
… that the Emperor is naked.
Then everyone laughs at the stupid
Emperor
Western countries are individualist,
right?
Individualist cultures have people who look after themselves and connections between
individuals are often loose and voluntary. They believe in personal freedon.
So this couldn’t happen in the west?
Must be a Japanese story?
Japan is group oriented
Japan is conformist
So it’s a Japanese story?
Hans Christian Anderson was
Japanese?
No, he was from Denmark!
So why is this story important in the
west?
Western people are not individualists?
They are conformist?!?
Imagine you are an exchange student
You’re studying in California
Or Hawaii
Or London
Or Pizzaland … who cares?
Anyway, your friends say “Let’s go out
for pizza.”
You think, “Hm … pizza sounds good”
And maybe I would prefer Chinese
Maybe I shouldn’t just go with the
flow
Maybe my friends will respect my
individuality
The question is …
Are westerners nonconformist?
Actually they did experiments
Starting in the 1950s
Continuing until quite recently
The Asch conformity experiment
A group like this
Notice that they are not Japanese
Every person EXCEPT ONE, is an actor
Yes -- every person EXCEPT ONE, is an
actor
Only one person is an ordinary person
Actor, actor, actor, actor, actor,
ordinary person
Here’s the Asch test
Very simple
Look at the line on the left
Which line A B C is the same length?
Yes, it’s C
It’s easy
Very easy
But in the test …
… all the actors give the wrong answer
They all say A
Or they all say B
And the ordinary person follows the
actors
They say they believed the actors
Or they didn’t want to destroy the
harmony!
Remember these are western people!
They follow the opinion of strangers
They’ve done the same thing in
elevators
Everyone faces the wrong way
They are all actors!
They’re all facing away from the door
And ordinary people usually follow
them
And turn around
That’s strange
They’ve even got people to start
dancing!
So westerners are pretty high on
conformity
So how about Japanese?
You must be REALLY high
Japan is super conformist, right?
How did Japanese do on the Asch test?
100% conformity?
Actually, no
Actually, much lower than westerners!
Actually, lower than everyone
I thought Japan was group-oriented
Actually, Japan IS group-oriented
Japanese people don’t follow strangers
And they don’t really follow friends
But they DO follow their group
members
So westerners conform to strangers
But Japanese only conform to group
members
But everyone conforms
•
•
•
•
Which is a bit worrying
Because maybe people will follow others
And do very bad things
For example?
What Is Conformity?
⚫ Conformity involves changing
your behaviors in order to "fit
in" or "go along" with the
people around you. In some
cases, this social influence
might involve agreeing with or
acting like the majority of
people in a specific group, or
it might involve behaving in a
particular way in order to be
perceived as "normal" by the
group.
Why Do We Conform?
⚫ Researchers have found that people conform for a
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number of different reasons.
In many cases, looking to the rest of the group for
clues for how we should behave can actually be
helpful.
Other people might have greater knowledge or
experience than we do, so following their lead can
actually be instructive.
In other cases, we conform to the expectations of the
group in order to avoid looking foolish. This tendency
can become particularly strong in situations where we
aren't quite sure how to act or where the expectations
are ambiguous.
Why Do We Conform?
⚫ Deautsch and Gerard (1955) identified two key reasons why
people conform:
⚫ informational influence and
⚫ normative influence.
⚫ Informational influence happens when people change their
behavior in order to be correct. In situations where we are
unsure of the correct response, we often look to others who are
better informed and more knowledgeable and use their lead as
a guide for our own behaviors. In a classroom setting, for
example, this might involve agreeing with the judgments of
another classmate who you perceive as being highly intelligent.
⚫ Normative influence stems from a desire to avoid punishments
(such as going along with the rules in class even though you
don't agree with them) and gain rewards (such as behaving in a
certain way in order to get people to like you).
Types of Conformity
⚫ Besides normative and informational influences there are also a number of
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other reasons why we conform. The following are some of the major types of
conformity.
Normative conformity involves changing one's behavior in order to fit in
with the group.
Informational conformity happens when a person lacks knowledge and
looks to the group for information and direction.
Identification occurs when people conform to what is expected of them
based upon their social roles. Zimbardo's famous Stanford Prison
Experiment is a good example of people altering their behavior in order to fit
into their expected roles.
Compliance involves changing one's behavior while still internally
disagreeing with the group.
Internalization occurs when we change our behavior because we want to be
like another person.
Research and Experiments on Conformity
⚫ Conformity is something that happens regularly in our social
worlds.
⚫ Sometimes we are aware of our behavior, but in many cases it
happens without much thought or awareness on our parts.
⚫ In some cases, we go along with things that we disagree with
or behave in ways that we know we shouldn't.
⚫ Some of the best-know experiments on the psychology of
conformity deal with people going along with the group, even
when they know the group is wrong.
⚫ Jenness' 1932 Experiment: In one of the earliest experiments
on conformity, Jenness asked participants to estimate the
number of beans in a bottle. They first estimated the number
individually and then later as a group. After they were asked as
a group, they were then asked again individually and the
experimenter found that their estimates shifted from their
Research and Experiments on Conformity
⚫ Sherif's Autokinetic Effect Experiments: In a series of
experiments, Muzafer Sherif asked participants to estimate how far a dot of
light in a dark room moved. In reality the dot was static, but it appeared to
move due to something known as the autokinetic effect. Essentially, tiny
movements of the eyes make it appear that a small spot of light is moving in
a dark room. When asked individually, the participants' answers varied
considerably. When asked as part of a group, however, Sherif found that the
responses converged toward a central mean. Sherif's results demonstrated
that in an ambiguous situation, people will conform to the group, an example
of informational influence.
⚫ Asch's Conformity Experiments: In this series of famous experiments,
psychologist Solomon Asch asked participants to complete what they
believed was a simple perceptual task. They were asked to choose a line that
matched the length of one of three different lines. When asked individually,
participants would choose the correct line. When asked in the presence of
confederates who were in on the experiment and who intentionally selected
the wrong line, around 75 percent of participants conformed to the group at
least once. This experiment is a good example of normative influence;
participants changed their answer and conformed to the group in order to fit
Factors That Influence
Conformity
⚫ The difficulty of the task: Difficult tasks can lead to both increased and
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decreased conformity. Not knowing how to perform a difficult task makes
people more likely to conform, but increased difficulty can also make people
more accepting of different responses, leading to less conformity.
Individual differences: Personal characteristics such as motivation to
achieve and strong leadership abilities are linked with a decreased tendency
to conform.
The size of the group: People are more likely to conform in situations that
involve between three and five other people.
Characteristics of the situation: People are more likely to conform in
ambiguous situations where they are unclear about how they should
respond.
Cultural differences: Researchers have found that people from collectivist
cultures are more likely to conform.
Examples of
Conformity
⚫ A teenager dresses in a certain style because he wants to fit in with the rest
of the guys in his social group.
⚫ A 20-year-old college student drinks at a sorority party because all her
friends are doing it and she does not want to be the odd one out.
⚫ A woman reads a book for her book club and really enjoys it. When she
attends her book club meeting, the other members all disliked the book.
Rather than go against the group opinion, she simply agrees with the others
that the book was terrible.
⚫ A student is unsure about the answer to a particular question posed by the
teacher. When another student in the class provides an answer, the confused
student concurs with the answer believing that the other student is smarter
and better informed.
Social Influence
First studied by Sherif (1936)
Sherif: ‘people use the behaviour of others to
decide what to do.’
Studied ‘autokinetic effect’ an optical illusion in
which a stationary spot of light in a room looks like
it’s moving. Asked participants individually to
estimate how far the light moved.
The second time around they were placed in
groups of 3. Participants changed their individual
views and converged on a group estimate or
‘norm.’
But why do we choose to conform..?
Social Influence
How many sweets are there?
Pass the jar of sweets around the
classroom.
Write down the answer on your
individual white board.
Do this on your own! Keep it
secret!
Hide your answer until everyone
has finished.
Social Influence
So what did we find…?
In pairs discuss:
1) Did you change your answer
the second time?
2) If so, why did you change your
answer?
3) What did you base your
second answer on?
4) How did you feel whilst you
were making your guesses?
5) What do you think the
experiment is trying to show?
Social Influence
Jenness’ (1932) Jelly Beans
First study on conformity:
1) Asked individuals to guess how many jelly beans
were in a jar individually.
2) The group then had to arrive at a group estimate.
3) He interviewed the individuals after and asked
them if they would like to change their estimate.
Almost all changed it in line with the group
estimate.
Issues with the previous research
• Sherif and Jenness both used ambiguous
situations to investigate conformity.
• Little was known about conformity in nonambiguous situations (where the answer was
clear/obvious)
You may discuss any two or more of the following factors.
Situational factors
Normative
factors/normative
influences
1. Group size
Supporting evidence:
Supporting evidence:
Asch (1956)
Asch variations
2. Group unanimity
Supporting evidence:
Competence
Asch variations
Supporting evidence:
Perrin and Spencer (1988)
You may discuss any two or more of the following factors.
Cultural factors / cultural
influences
Supporting evidence:
Bond and Smith (1996)
Berry (1967)
Social identity
Supporting
evidence:
Abrams et al. (1990)
Situational factors
Situational factors
Normative factors/normative influences
Supporting evidence:
Asch (1956)
Asch carried out a classic study of conformity.
You can also use this study for the following
learning topics:
• Research methods used in the
sociocultural approach.
• Ethical considerations related to research
studies in the sociocultural level approach.
Procedure
results
Asch wanted to test the power of normative social influence on one's likelihood to
conform in an unambiguous task. In particular, he wanted to see if there was a
unanimous, but incorrect, response, whether the participant would conform.
Asch used a lab experiment to study conformity. His sample was made up of 50
male students in the USA. They were told that they were taking part in a ‘vision
test’. In his original study, the independent variable was the "unanimous incorrect
response" and the dependent variable was the level of conformity - that is, agreeing
with the incorrect response.
In his procedure, he used a naive participant and six confederates. He presented
participants with an unambiguous stimulus -‐ on card 1 there was a single line. The
participants were asked to choose the line on card 2 which was the same length as
the first card. There were six confederates who were instructed to give wrong
answers on certain trials, and a naive participant who always answered next to last.
There were 18 trials - that is, times when they were asked to compare the lines - 12
of which were answered incorrectly by the confederates.
To set up a control for the experiment,
Asch had another condition where one
participant answered all 18 trials without
the confederates present and with only the
experimenter in the room.
In total, there were 50 "real" participants
that took part in the experimental condition
and 37 participants in the control
condition.
After the experiment was completed, Asch
carried out interviews with each of the
participants.
Over the 12 critical trials, about 75% of participants conformed at least once, and 25%
of participant never conformed. In the control condition, less than 1% of the
participants gave the wrong response.
Asch interviewed some of his participants and found that they tended to give one of
three reasons for why they conformed: they really thought that they were wrong; they
were unsure of their answer; or they didn't want to be ridiculed by the group, so
therefore went along with the wrong answer, but knowing that it was incorrect
Evaluation
The task does not have a lot of personal meaning to the participants. Therefore, the
task lacks mundane realism and the study lacks ecological validity.
The paradigm has been used repeatedly to test different factors that may influence
conformity.
Asch used a control group to make sure that the task was not ambiguous.
There is the ethical concern about the use of deception.
There is a question as to why so few people actually conformed. Some psychologists
have criticized the interpretation of the study as exaggerating the role of group pressure
on conformity.
Although interviews after the experiment were used to determine why an individual
behaved the way he did, there was no way to actually know what they were thinking
and how they made their decisions during the actual experiment. The only way we
know is from the participants thinking back and recalling how they made their
decisions.
Although there was sampling bias in the original study, the paradigm has been used
with different cultures and genders.
Competence
Supporting evidence:
Perrin and Spencer (1988)
Competence is how effective a person is at doing a task.
Cultural factors / cultural influences
Cultural factors / cultural influences
Title
Berry (1967)
Independence and conformity in subsistence-level
societies
Background
Numerous studies have found that cultural factors affect the
amount of conformity. One factor that could affect conformity is
child-rearing practices. In societies high on food-accumulation,
there is a high need for discipline which may, in turn, affect
child-rearing practices and conformity. In a society where there
is a high need for discipline, individualism could be low and
collectivism could be high.
Cultural factors / cultural influences
Berry (1967)
Aim
To investigate whether there is a difference in the degree of
conformity between the Temne people of sierra leone and
Baffin island Inuit (Eskimo).
(The Temne people are rice farmers and harvest once a year
and are dependent on that harvest during the year to come,
while the Inuits fish and hunt)
Cultural factors / cultural influences
Participants
Two samples were drawn from each society;
one consisted of traditional people without western
education while one consisted of people in transition to
western life
90 people from Temne were traditional and 32 were
transitional
91 Inuits were traditional and 31 were transitional
for comparison, two additional samples of scots were
drawn, 62 from a rural area and 60 from an urban area
A typical Inuit family unit.
The Temne people from Sierra
Leone
Method
quasi (natural) experiment (independent measures
design)
IV: the culture/ethnicity of the participants
DV: mean conformity score (the number of lines the
participants were away from the correct line)
Procedure
Participants were shown a paper with 9 different lines
the line at the top was a standard line and the task was
to identify the line out of the other eight that was equal in
length to the standard line
on one sheet, the difference between the eight lines was 1
millimeter; on another it was 2 mm and on a third it was 3
mm.
One of the eight lines had an X next to it. Participants were
informed that most people had identified that line as the
one of equal length to the standard line
in fact, none of the lines with an X next to it were the correct
answers.
The conformity score for each participant was the number of
lines away from the correct one they identified as the one
equal to the standard line
Results
The average conformity score was much higher in the
Temne sample
*the average conformity score for the Inuit sample was
considerably lower than the score for the Scottish sample.
all differences between the three different cultures were
statistically significant. the transitional and urban samples
were lower as compared to the traditional or rural samples
within each culture.
Conclusion
Different results for the Temne and eskimo (Inuit) people are
due to the different degree of conformity required by the
contrasting social and environmental conditions of their
cultures.
These findings support Hofstede's belief that the degree of
individualism of a group will affect the group member
behavior (conformity)
How does this study demonstrate culture and its
influence on behavior and cognition and cultural
dimensions?
This study illustrates the influence of culture in behavior as well
as cultural dimensions as the Temne people, classified as part of
a collectivist culture, tend to conform because they associate
values with belonging to a group (group cohesion), taking priority
over personal values. Placing more emphasis on social identity
by being high on food-accumulation, the cooperative task of
farming demonstrates how cultural norms influence conformity
within individualistic and collectivist cultures
Evaluation
strengths:
- little bias
limitations:
- low ecological validity (not representative of societal norms)
- limited control
- impossible to replicate (each individual has different brain structures)
independent measures design:
- more people are needed than with the repeated measures design (i.e.
more time consuming).
- avoids order effects (such as practice or fatigue) as people participate in
one condition only.
- if a person is involved in several conditions, they may become bored,
tired and fed up by the time they come to the second condition or
becoming wise to the requirements of the experiment
- differences between participants in the groups may affect results -->
after the participants have been recruited, they should be randomly
assigned to their groups. This should ensure the groups are similar, on
average (reducing participant variables).
As the study does not represent a real-life situation,
the participants from the collectivist cultures may not
only have conformed due to their inherent
dependence on other people but also because of
potential low self-esteem, lack of motivation, or fear
The study does not exhibit gender bias as both men and
women participated in the study, widening the
generalizability and the scope of applications
(general consequences of gender bias include scientifically
misleading results,
the upholding of stereotypical assumptions, and validation
of sex discrimination)
The study was mostly ethical as there was informed
consent, they were partially deceived, their identities
remained confidential, they were debriefed, they could
withdraw, and they were protected from harm
As a cross-cultural and thus etic study, there is no cultural
bias in the study as it demonstrates that conformity is not
limited to a single cultural group
Social identity
Supporting
evidence:
Abrams et al. (1990)
Social identity is how we think of ourselves according to our membership of
social groups (recall Social Identity Theory).
This particular research study has already been shared in lecture
notes for Social Identity Theory.
So, you can review those notes again. You can use the same notes
here as well.
EXAM PRACTICE QUESTIONS
ERQ [22 marks. Ideally, you must finish one ERQ in 50 minutes.
Maximum words: 900 – 1000]
Discuss two or more factors influencing conformity.
Discuss – write a balanced review.
You must write about the factors we discussed in the
previous slides and write relevant supporting evidence –
write at least one research study and evaluate it.
EXAM PRACTICE QUESTIONS
ERQ [22 marks. Ideally, you must finish one ERQ in 50 minutes.
Maximum words: 900 – 1000]
Evaluate research (research studies) on conformity to group
norms.
Evaluate – Write a description of strengths and limitations of research
studies on conformity.
You can choose to write at least two research studies in detail and
evaluate them and then link them to the question.
OR
You can choose to evaluate more than two studies nor really going in
much details about the procedure etc. Keeping the main focus on
evaluation (ecological validity, ethical considerations, evaluation of the
experimental design, etc.)
EXAM PRACTICE QUESTIONS
SAQs [9 marks. Ideally, you must be able to finish one SAQ
in 20 minutes. Maximum words: 500 – 600.]
Describe / Explain conformity with reference to one study.
It is a typical SAQ in which you first describe the concept of
conformity and also briefly write reasons for conformity.
Then you explain one research study. You may choose any one
of the following:
Asch (1956)
Berry et al (1976)
Abrams et al (1990)
Always make sure you link the main investigation idea of a research study
with the question at the end of your answer.
You have reached the end of this topic.
Now all you have to do is revise and reinforce this topic for
exams and tests.
Good luck 