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Conformity

Changing the way we act or think to fit in with the majority

Compliance: Temporarily changing how we act to fit in with the environment we're in, while privately disagreeing

Internalization: Being influenced by the people and environment around us to act some way, however acting this way when not around them as well. Permanently adopting the behavior of a group.

Normative Influences: Following what the majority of the crowd is doing to fit in

Informational Influence: Following the majority because you don’t know what to do or how to do something

Factors Affecting Conformity

Situational

Group size- a larger group size can have a bigger influence

Task Difficulty- more likely to have an informational influence

Individual

Gender/Sex- women statistically tend to be more conformist than men

Self Esteem- more insecure people may conform more to fit in and feel better about themselves.

Cultural

Conformity may be seen as positive in cultures such as China as interdependence is more highly valued.

Western culture valued conformity up until the 60s and 70s when movements such as black civil rights, feminist and sexual revolution.

Asch 1951

Aim- the extent to which social pressure from a majority group could affect a person to conform

Method- Lab experiment-

50 American male students were recruited for the experiment.

They were told it was a visual perception study.

The participants were placed into groups with 7 other individuals. However, unbeknown to the participant- those 7 people were confederates of the experiment (actors whose responses in the study had been prepared in advance)

During the experiment, the task was to say which comparison line (a, b, or c) was the same as the stimulus line on 18 different trials.

12 of the 18 trials were known as “critical trials” during which the Confederates gave wrong answers intentionally.

The true participant was always last or second last to provide their answer.

This put the true participant in a position of having to choose between the correct answer or conforming to the majority and giving the wrong answer

Results- The majority group (confederates) generally have a large influence on the minority (true participant).

On critical trials, 32% conformed to the group and answered incorrectly.

25% gave no incorrect answers. 75% gave incorrect answers, at least once

Strengths	Weaknesses
lab experiment so it’s easy to replicate and controlled	Not ethical- Participants were deceived and told it was a visual perception study
debriefing- participants received a debriefing at the end of the experiment to explain what happened and clear up confusion	Not protected from embarrassment as they were singled out by the actors
	The sample was 50 American males- not diverse enough to be applicable to the general population

Mori and Arai (2010)

Aim- to investigate the influence of social pressure on a majority group in an ambiguous task.

Replicate Asch’s findings across different genders

Method- They were all given filter glasses that made them see different images, but they were told it was to protect their eyes from glare

People stated their answers out loud with the minority participant going third

Results- Female minority participants answered incorrectly 28.6% of the time, while for males it was only 5% of the time.

Strength	Weakness
One strength of Arai and Mori is its sample size. Arai and Mori had 104 participants of both male and female. This is enough for it to be generalizable to both genders.	One Weakness of Arai and Mori is that the participants were still deceived as they were told the glasses were for reducing glare.
Another strength of Arai and Mori is that the setting was more realistic and natural, meaning the participants would act as they normally would.	Another weakness is that it is less generalizable as all participants were students from Japan, which is a country that favours conformity

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Conformity

Changing the way we act or think to fit in with the majority

Compliance: Temporarily changing how we act to fit in with the environment we're in, while privately disagreeing

Internalization: Being influenced by the people and environment around us to act some way, however acting this way when not around them as well. Permanently adopting the behavior of a group.

Normative Influences: Following what the majority of the crowd is doing to fit in

Informational Influence: Following the majority because you don’t know what to do or how to do something

Factors Affecting Conformity

Situational

Group size- a larger group size can have a bigger influence

Task Difficulty- more likely to have an informational influence

Individual

Gender/Sex- women statistically tend to be more conformist than men

Self Esteem- more insecure people may conform more to fit in and feel better about themselves.

Cultural

Conformity may be seen as positive in cultures such as China as interdependence is more highly valued.

Western culture valued conformity up until the 60s and 70s when movements such as black civil rights, feminist and sexual revolution.

Asch 1951

Aim- the extent to which social pressure from a majority group could affect a person to conform

Method- Lab experiment-

50 American male students were recruited for the experiment.

They were told it was a visual perception study.

During the experiment, the task was to say which comparison line (a, b, or c) was the same as the stimulus line on 18 different trials.

12 of the 18 trials were known as “critical trials” during which the Confederates gave wrong answers intentionally.

The true participant was always last or second last to provide their answer.

This put the true participant in a position of having to choose between the correct answer or conforming to the majority and giving the wrong answer

Results- The majority group (confederates) generally have a large influence on the minority (true participant).

On critical trials, 32% conformed to the group and answered incorrectly.

25% gave no incorrect answers. 75% gave incorrect answers, at least once

Strengths	Weaknesses
lab experiment so it’s easy to replicate and controlled	Not ethical- Participants were deceived and told it was a visual perception study
debriefing- participants received a debriefing at the end of the experiment to explain what happened and clear up confusion	Not protected from embarrassment as they were singled out by the actors
	The sample was 50 American males- not diverse enough to be applicable to the general population

Mori and Arai (2010)

Aim- to investigate the influence of social pressure on a majority group in an ambiguous task.

Replicate Asch’s findings across different genders

Method- They were all given filter glasses that made them see different images, but they were told it was to protect their eyes from glare

People stated their answers out loud with the minority participant going third

Results- Female minority participants answered incorrectly 28.6% of the time, while for males it was only 5% of the time.

Strength	Weakness
One strength of Arai and Mori is its sample size. Arai and Mori had 104 participants of both male and female. This is enough for it to be generalizable to both genders.	One Weakness of Arai and Mori is that the participants were still deceived as they were told the glasses were for reducing glare.
Another strength of Arai and Mori is that the setting was more realistic and natural, meaning the participants would act as they normally would.	Another weakness is that it is less generalizable as all participants were students from Japan, which is a country that favours conformity