Ch. 7: Conformity

Yielding to Social Influence Conformity  Compliance  Obedience

Chameleon Effect Mimicking the behavior of someone with whom you are interacting If the person you’re talking to crosses their arms, you’re likely to as well.

Mood Contagion The mood of the person we’re interacting with tends to rub off on us Participants rated themselves as happier after hearing a speech that had a happy tone

Sherif Study Sherif study had people sit in a dark room and judge how much a light was moving. This is difficult bc light often appears to move in the dark even when it doesn’t really. People did this alone, then with a group, and the groups eventually converged on similar answers.

Asch Study Asch line test: One participant was with several confederates. Started off with everyone making the correct judgment of line length, but then the confederates started to make errors. Only 25% of participants never conformed 50% conformed at least half the time The remaining 25% conformed at least once Total rate of conformity was 37%.

Sherif & Informational Influence Informational influence: influence that produces conformity when a person believes others are correct in their judgments. Sherif study – they weren’t sure, so four eyes are better than one.

Asch & Normative Influence Normative influence: influence that produces conformity when a person fears the negative social consequences of appearing deviant. Asch study – people knew they were right, but didn’t want to be ridiculed.

Private vs Public Conformity Private conformity: Beliefs are ACTUALLY changed This is TRUE acceptance or conversion – persuasion Sherif study showed this Public conformity: Beliefs are NOT actually changed – you just pretend they are Sometimes called compliance Asch study showed this – when alone, conformity went away

Motivation & Task Difficulty When motivation is high (like a reward), participants conform MORE when the task is difficult (like Sherif study) They’re not confident, so they rely on others They conform LESS when it’s easy (like Asch study) They’re confident and don’t need to rely on others

Group Size & Conformity Size of group increases conformity only up to about four people

Norm Awareness We conform to whatever we perceive the norm to be In one study, people were handed pamphlets. The more litter there was in the area, the more likely people were to throw the pamphlets on the ground.

Presence of an Ally In Asch study, the presence of just one other person who agreed with the participant reduced conformity by 80%

Age & Conformity Conformity appears to happen most with young adolescents, peaking at 9th grade Older adults are less likely to care about conforming than younger adults

Gender & Conformity Men tend to conform more about feminine issues, and women conform more about masculine issues – so the determining factor is familiarity, not gender In public situations, males conform less but females conform more – falling into traditional gender roles

Culture & Conformity Conformity is greater in collectivist cultures. Cultures that are more homogeneous, where most members share a language, religion, etc., are less tolerant of those who veer from the norm, or don’t conform.

Minority Influence To exert influence, someone in the minority must be Forceful Persistent Unwavering Flexible and open-minded If you have the guts to stand against the majority, then people assume you must have a good point.

Majority vs Minority Majorities force conformity with normative pressure Minorities make people actually rethink their positions, leading to a more lasting conversion