Factors Influencing Conformity

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Learning Outcome 12

Discuss factors influencing conformity.

Most definitions of conformity refer to social norms. It is a type of social influence in which individuals change their attitudes or behavior to adhere to existing social norms. The reason for the change is the results of real or imagined group pressure. What is classified as conforming is when an individual chooses a course or action which is favored by the majority of group members. There has been a number of highly influential and important studies that research conformity to group norms and highlight the different factors that influence conformity.

The Asch study can be used to discuss some factors influencing conformity. The aim was to investigate whether perceived group pressure by a majority can influence a minority in an experimental set-up that is not ambiguous. In this study, seven male college students were placed around two white cards on which one of them had three lines (A, B, C) and the other had one line. They had to say out loud which of the three lines on the right had the same length has the line on the left. There was actually only one real participant in the experimental set-up and six were confederates who were previously instructed to give unanimous wrong answers. This was done during 12 of the 18 trials.  He also used a control group of 37 participants where those participants made the estimates alone for comparison to the experimental group. The results showed that the mean conformity rate was 32%. However, nobody conformed on all 12 trials, but 75% conformed at least once. 26% never conformed. In the control group, 35 of the 37 participants did not make a single error so it total, 0.7% errors were made, which shows that it was indeed conformity that took place and not the fact that the task was difficult and causes there errors as there was barely any errors in the control group. The type of conformity that took place was normative conformity which is when an individual conforms even when they know that the answer is wrong in order to be accepted or liked by other members of the group because people have a need for social approval and acceptance. Asch also tested how the size of the majority group affected conformity by using 1 to 15 confederates. 1 confederate only had a conformity rate of 3%, whilst 2 confederates had a conformity rate of 14%, and any amount of confederates between 3 to 7 had a conformity rate of 32%. This shows that group size affects conformity. He also tested whether the presence of an ally who agreed with the partner would reduce conformity, and indeed it did. It actually reduced conformity drastically by 80%. This is because with the presence of an ally we can diffuse the pressure as we are not the only one breaking the norm.

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Another study that investigates factors that influence conformity is the study by Crutchfield from 1955. In this study there were 90 air force officers who participated, 50 in the experimental group and 40 in the control group. Five participants were tested simultaneously and were seated side by side without being able to see each other. In front of the participants there was a screen where the different test items were displayed. The test items consisted of different tasks; perceptual ones, factual ones, matters of opinions, logical ones and personal preferences. In front of them were switches that were to be ...

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