Conformity

Why we follow others.

Elmakrufi.Blogspot.com

What is conformity?

• Conformity--a change in behavior or belief as a result of real or “imagined” group pressure.

• It is not simply acting like others, but also being effected by how they act.

• You “consciously” act differently from the way you would act alone.

Two Types of Conformity:

• 1.  Compliance - involves publicly acting in accord with social pressure while privately disagreeing.

• Why do we do this?

• We comply to receive a reward or to avoid a punishment.

Types of Conformity contd.• 2. Acceptance - involves both acting and

believing in accord with social pressure.

• E.g., We may decide not to drink alcohol because our society adopts a strong moral view against drinking.

A. Classic Studies in Conformity:

• 1. Sherif’s studies of Norm Formation

• 2. Asch’s Studies of Group Pressure

1. Sherif’s Study: Part I• Sherif (1935, 1937) wanted to examine the

formation of social norms.

• Ss were seated in a dark room. Fifteen ft. in front of the S, a pinpoint of light appears.

• At first, nothing happens, then it appears to move erratically & disappears.

• The S has to guess how far it moved.

The darkness of the room adds to the Ss uncertainty.

• The S makes a “guess.” (6 inches). The experimenter repeats the procedure & the S guesses again.

• With repetitions, the S reports estimates that tend to fall around an average (around 6-8 inches).

Sherif’s Study: Part II• The next day, the S returns & is joined by two

others (also previous Ss).

• When light is presented, the other Ss give their best guesses from the day before. One says “1 inch,” the other S says, “2 inches.”

• Surprised the S, says, “6 inches.” What he said before.

• Does our subject’s original responses change when in the company of the other two people?

Sherif’s findings:• Sherif found that Columbia University

students, did change their responses when in the presence of others.

• A group norm emerged!!!

The Norm was false!!!!

• Why????

• The light never moved!!! It a perceptual illusion called the: autokinetic phenomenon.

• A solitary light that is stationary, will appear to move, unless in the presence of another blinking light (reference).

Sherif’s followup:

When tested a year later would their answers change?

• No, they continued to report the group consensus!!!!

2. Asch’s group pressure study:

• A true S was seated in a row among confederates.

• The S was seated 6th in a row of 7 people.

• The goal of the study was to examine perceptual judgments & the participants were instructed to pick which of 3 lines “matched” a standard line.

The true S could see that one of the lines was obviously a match, the others obviously wrong.

2. Stimuli for study:

• X- standard line

Asch study On first 2 trials, all people agree which line is right

size.

On 3rd trial, all 5 people seated before the S, give an incorrect answer.

What does our S (6th seat) say?

75% of Ss in this experiment, conformed at least once with the group and picked the wrong size line.

Asch’s results:

• On average across trials, 37% of time Ss conformed.

Do recent replications of Asch study hold up?

• Mixed results, but many studies do not find this conformity result.

B. Milgram Shock Experiment

Milgram advertised for participants to get paid for completing Yale study on memory.

• 2 people showed up to psychology lab. One was true S & the other a confederate.

• A stern experimenter in a lab coat, explained that study was interested in the effect of punishment on learning.

Milgram Study

• The S was to play the role of “teacher,” the confederate, the role of “learner.”

• “Teacher” was to read word pairs to the “learner” who was in another room hooked up to shock leads.

• With each missed word, the S was to shock the “learner.”

Milgram study

• The shock panel had switches ranging from 15 to 450 volts in 15-volt increments.

• Switches were labeled: “slight shock,” “very strong shock,” “danger: severe shock,” etc.

How many Ss went on shocking the “learner” all the way?

Milgram’s Results:

• 65-66% of Ss continued shocking “learner” to full capacity.

What factors influence obedience?

• 1. Emotional distance of victim

• 2. Closeness & legitimacy of the authority

• 3. Institutional authority

• 4. Liberating effects of group influence

When do people conform?

• 1. Group size- 3-5 people will elicit more conformity than 1 or 2 people.

• Beyond 5 people- conformity drops off.

Milgram’s field study (1969):

• Required 1,2,3,5,10, or 15 people to “pause” on a busy New York City sidewalk & look up.

• % of people passing by who also looked up increased as the number of people looking up increased (from 1 to 5).

2. Unanimity

• An individual who disagrees with a group, & punctures the group’s unanimity deflates its social power.

• Ss will voice their own views if just 1 person has done so.

3. Cohesion• The greater the cohesiveness of the group, the

more power it has over its members.

• We are more easily swayed by a minority opinion from inside our group than from another group.

• E.g., we often feel compelled to “act-like” those within our ethnic group to avoid being mocked by members of our group (Contrada & others, 2000).

4. Status

• Higher-status people tend to have more influence over others.

5. Public response:

• People conform more when they must respond publicly in front of others.

Why do we conform?

• We conform to avoid rejection & to stay in others’ good graces.

• Normative influence- “When in Rome, do as the Romans would do.”

Who conforms?

• Are some people more likely to conform than others?

• Who is more susceptible to conformity?

1. Personality-predisposes us to either be conforming or non-conforming.

2. Culture- Conformity is higher in countries high in collectivism & lower in countries high in individualism.

Resisting Social Pressure

• 1. Reactance- people rebel when their sense of freedom is threatened.

• 2. Asserting Uniqueness- being different to make a statement about oneself.