IB Psychology HL - SCLOA - Discuss Factors Influencing Conformity

• tendency to change one’s thoughts, feelings, or behaviour

- in ways that agree with a particular individual/group/situation

• group size

• group unanimity

• competence

• culture

• social identity

• the larger the group, the more likely conformity occurs
  - Asch (1951): with only 1, 3% conformed; with 2, 14% conformed; and with 3, 32% conformed

Asch (1951):

• when a dissenting confederate was introduced to the group, participant conformity rates decreased from 35% to 5.5%

• particularly if the confederate speaks before the participant

• whether the confederate is correct or not doesn’t appear to matter – what’s important is the lack of an unanimous collective opinion

• the individual’s own sense of competence in making decisions also plays a part

• higher competence = lower chances of conforming

• Perrin and Spencer (1988): upon replication of Asch (1951) with medical and engineering students, conformity rates were nearly 0%

Berry (1967):

• replicated Asch (1951) with Temne people and Inuits

• found that Temne people conformed significantly more

• likely due to the cooperative nature of their economy

• in contrast, Inuits forage for resources individually

• conformity is about adhering to in-group norms

• to allow a greater sense of belongingness to our in-group

• thus forming and maintaining social identities we want

• so we are more likely to conform to the norms of groups we believe we belong to

Supporting study: Abrams et al (1990)

1. replicated Asch (1951) with psychology students using 3 confederates

2. 2 conditions:
   - in-group: participants led to believe confederates were fellow psychology students
   - out-group: participants led to believe confederates were history students

3. All group members had to respond publicly

• 100% of the in-group condition participants conformed at least once

• only 50% of the out-group condition participants conformed at least once

• thus we are far more influenced by groups we feel we belong to

• define conformity

• group size: Asch (1951)

• group unanimity: Asch (1951)

• culture: Berry (1967)

• education: Perrin and Spencer (1988)

• in-group/out-group: Abrams et al. (1990)

• include background info/reasons for every point

• give a balanced review offering evaluative comments about the issue you are discussing

• discuss your own opinions and evidence to support your opinions

when discussing a theory/model:
• state strengths and limitations with empirical evidence AND evaluate those empirical studies
• discuss the usefulness of a certain theory by mentioning possible applications and how effective and universal these applications are
• compare to an alternative theory
• discuss the extent to which the theory can be universally applied – are the explanations culturally- or gender-specific?
• evaluate sources: is the theory based on methodologically questionable empirical evidence?