1. The Individual & Society
Part I: Conformity & Deviance

2. Today What is conformity? Why do people conform?
What is deviance? What causes deviant behavior?

3. Conformity Conformity: Adherence to social standards and norms
Social Psychology – Two main types of conformity:
Normative Conformity
Informational Conformity

4. Normative Conformity
The influence of others that leads individuals to conform in order to be liked and accepted by them
Results in public compliance but not necessarily private acceptance of the group’s beliefs and behaviors

5. Information Conformity
Conforming due to the belief that others’ interpretations of a given situation are more correct than ours, will lead us to correct course of action

6. Other types of conformity…
Identification: people conform to what is expected of them based upon their social roles
Compliance: altering behavior in order to fit into their expected roles while still internally disagreeing with the group
Internalization: change in behavior to be like another person who is respected, well-liked, etc.

7. The Asch Experiments Solomon Asch -1950s Test of Conformity:
To what degree an individual’s opinions are influenced by group majority?

8. The Asch Experiments
Look at the line on the left. Which line on the right is the same size? Would you change your answer if everyone else in the room answered differently?

9. Video: Asch Conformity Experiment

10. Critical Response Paragraph #2
How does the Asch experiment demonstrate conformity? DUE MONDAY, OCTOBER 7th In-class OR via by MIDNIGHT. No late work accepted this time.

11. Critical Response Paragraph #2 Modified Grading Guidelines
Introductory, Argumentative Statement
State the name of the experiment (1 point)
Mention that is an example of conformity (1 point)
Evidence & Argument – TWO examples from film
Define the type of conformity it shows (1 point)
Mention TWO parts of the experiment that make it an example of that kind of conformity (2 points)
Statement of Conclusion & Broader Implications
Summarize the findings (basically, restate your first sentence) – 1 point
Offer a suggestion of broader implications – for instance, what does this say about people in general? – 1 point
Other
No first or second person – 1 point
Correct grammar and spelling – 1 point
Appropriate length (5-7 sentences in ONE paragraph) – 1 point

12. Social Control
Social control: ways of directing or influencing group members' behavior to conform to the group's values and norms
Anthropologists: Direct and Indirect constraints
Sociologists: Internal and External Mechanisms of Control

13. Internal Mechanisms of Control
Individuals conform to moral standards because they don’t just learn them, they sometimes internalize them
Individuals may experience discomfort, such as feeling guilt, for violating internalized social norms
Operates on the individual even in the absence of others’ reactions

14. External Mechanisms of Control
External mechanisms of control: Social forces that are external to the individual and channel behavior towards accepted norms
This includes others’ responses to behavior: rewards and punishments (sanctions)
Various types of sanctions:
Positive and Negative
Formal and Informal

15. Positive & Negative Sanctions
Positive sanctions: Actions that encourage the continuation of a certain behavior
Negative sanctions: Actions that discourage the repetition or continuation of a certain behavior

16. Formal & Informal Sanctions
Formal sanctions: Applied in a public ritual usually under the control of authorities
Informal sanctions: Actions that arise spontaneously with little or no formal direction

17. POSITIVE NEGATIVE INFORMAL FORMAL Informal positive Informal negative
Spontaneous displays of approval of behavior
Examples: smiles, pats on the back, handshakes, congratulations, hugs
Informal negative
Spontaneous displays of disapproval or displeasure
Examples: frowns, damaging gossip, impolite treatment
FORMAL
Formal positive Public affairs, rituals, or ceremonies that express social approval of behavior; planned, organized
Example: Presentation of awards or degrees, public declarations of respect or appreciation (banquets etc.), cash awards
Formal negative Actions that express institutionalized disapproval of behavior - flow directly from person or agency of authority; applied within context of formal organizations
Example: Expulsion, dismissal, fines, imprisonment

18. Deviance
Deviance: Failure to conform to norms and standards of the group; culturally relevant
Several biological, psychological, and sociological explanations have been theorized to explain deviance

19. Biological Theories of Deviance
Earliest attempts to scientifically explain deviant and criminal behavior are biological
Centered around importance of inherited factors; downplayed environmental influences
Earliest studies focused on physical characteristics; modern studies focus on genetic structure

20. Example: Cesare Lombroso
Italian criminologist – late 19th century
Criminals tend to have particular physical traits:
Heads higher at rear than forehead, longer lower jaws, flattened noses, scanty beards, long ears, etc.
Inherited facial and body characteristics indicative of an inherited primitiveness, reversion to ancestral savagery
This and similar approaches have now been completely discredited

21. Psychological Theories of Deviance
Downplays biological factors
Emphasizes the role of parents and early childhood experiences – behavioural conditioning - in producing deviant behavior
Includes:
Psychoanalysis
Behaviorism

22. Example: Psychoanalytic Approach to Deviance
Based on work of Sigmund Freud and followers
Emphasize role of unconscious , innate, impulsive drive (“Id”) in causing individuals to preform deviant acts
All people have deviant tendencies due to Id, but learn to control them through socialization process
If socialization process fails, the Id takes control

23. Example: Psychoanalytic Approach to Deviance
Weakness: difficult to test as "id" or unconscious as it is not visible or directly measurable; overemphasis on innate drive at expense of social and cultural factors

24. Example: Behaviorist Approach to Deviance
Emphasizes how people adjust and modify behavior in response to rewards and punishments that actions elicit
Behaviors leading to favorable actions likely to be repeated
Behaviors leading to unfavorable consequences unlikely to be repeated
Usually rewarded for conformist behavior, but occasionally situation is reversed in specific circumstances, e.g. a teenager associating with a delinquent gang
Deviant behavior is learned by series of trials and errors

25. Sociological Theories of Deviance
Like psychological explanations, emphasizes environmental influences rather than inherited biological factors
Unlike psychological explanations, focuses on ongoing social and cultural factors rather than individuals early childhood experiences in contributing to deviance
Includes:
Strain Theory
Control Theory
Differential Association Theory
Labeling Theory

26. Example: Strain Theory
Deviance is the outcome of social strain due to the structure of (American) society
Society overemphasizes importance of monetary success while failing to emphasize importance of legitimate means to achieve that success
Individuals who occupy favorable positions high in the social class structure have many legitimate means at their disposal to achieve this success, whereas those in lower, less favorable positions do not
Because of this shared goal of financial success, but unequal access to important resources, the form of deviance a person engages in depends on the position he or she occupies in the social structure

27. Example: Strain Theory

28. Example: Strain Theory
Strength: emphasizes external causes of deviant behavior, which are within the power of society to correct – very influential among sociologists
Weakness: inability to explain kinds of deviance that occur among all social strata and social groups (e.g. drug dependence, domestic violence) and for reasons other than acquiring wealth

29. Example: Control Theory
Why do most individuals NOT commit deviance?
Cause of deviance is ABSENCE of what causes conformity
Social Attachments –> Social Control –> Conformity
Intimate attachments to parents, teachers, peers, etc. help people establish values linked to conventional lifestyle
Absence of social attachments , and subsequently, social control, leads to deviance
Without attachments, opinions of others do not matter- individuals are free to violate social norms without fear of social disapproval

30. Example: Differential Association Theory
Edwin Sutherland
Criminal or deviant behavior is learned in the context of intimate group
criminal techniques – how to break into a house
criminal attitudes –such as rationalizations for committing crime
Acquired through long standing interactions with others who hold this view
Deviant behavior emerges the same as conformist behavior does – but due to different experiences and different associations, it leads to deviance rather than conformity

31. Example: Labeling Theory
Examines process by which people come to be labeled as deviant
Deviance is relevant – individuals are not deviant until given that label by a person of social power
Emphasizes effect of the label on an individual and subsequent behavior

32. Summary Conformity can be
External and internal mechanisms exist to maintain social control and conformity
External mechanisms include formal and informal, positive and negative sanctions
Despite mechanisms of control, some individuals still deviate from norms
Several biological, psychological, and sociological theories exist to explain deviance
Some combination of explanations and theories is probably needed to gain fullest understanding of deviance and its cause