Conformity
On Post-its
• What is Social Influence?
Conformity:
The tendency for people to adopt the behaviour,
attitudes and values of a reference group
Majority influence
•The opposite of deviation
• Compliance is the most superficial type of conformity
• The individual conforms publicly to avoid social
disapproval, but maintains their own private opinion
• They therefore revert to their former behaviour/attitudes
once they have left the situation
Examples?
Laughing at a joke you don’t
find funny
Going outside to smoke
because nobody else in
the house is smoking
Wearing a dinner suit to a formal occasion
• This is where the individual adapts their behaviour
because they value membership of the group
• It is a deeper level of conformity than compliance
• The individual maintains the behaviour/attitudes of
the group even when they away from the group
• However, it is still a temporary change, as they are
likely to revert back to their old behaviour/attitudes
when they leave the group
Joining a gang
Becoming a goth
Joining a yoga club
• This is the deepest level of conformity and is sometimes
referred to as ‘true conformity’
• It represents a permanent change in the individual’s
behaviour/attitudes and results from the views being
internalised (taken as one’s own)
• In other words, the individual shows conformity to the
group because he/she genuinely agrees with their views
• This results in both a public and private change in
behaviour and/or attitudes
Becoming a vegetarian
Joining a human
rights organisation
Adopting a religion
Types of Conformity (Kelman, 1958):
Compliance
Weaker
Identification
Internalization
Stronger
Sticking to the Speed Limit
• Some people conform because they do not
want to get a fine
Compliance
• Some people conform because it is expected
of them in society and others stick to the
speed limit
Identification
• Some people conform because they think it is
right to have a speed limit
Internalization
Tell the person next to you
• An example of when you have conformed
• Was this….
• Compliance
• Identification
• Internalisation
Why do we Conform?
Normative vs Informative
Normative Influence is conformity based on
one's desire to fulfill others' expectations and
gain acceptance (Myers, 2009). To be liked
Informational influence is conformity under
acceptance of evidence about reality which has
been provided by others (Myers, 2009).
To be right
How many sweets in this jar?
On your whiteboards
Sherif et al 1935
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrNIuFrs
o8I
Sherif (1935)
• Used the auto-kinetic effect
• First asked individual participants to judge how far the light
moved on a number of trials
• Each individuals estimates - stable but considerable variation
between individuals
• Next asked groups of 3 participants how far the light moved
• Judgements converged until a group norm emerged
• They objected the idea of group influence
• But when asked individually answers close to the group norm
were given
• What is a major flaw in this experiment? Validity?
Problems with Sherif
• The Answer was not obvious
• How can we then determine is social influence
took place?
• Maybe they just changed their answer cause they
did not know?
• Low Internal validity
Unambiguous situations:
• Pretty obvious?
• In an unambiguous situation, the answer is
obvious
• Opposite to an ambiguous situation, when the
answer is not clear
Plenary
• Summarise Sherif in three to four
sentences