Conformity Essay

This lurch is in response to real (involving the physical presence of early(a)s) or imagined (involving the pull of societal norms / expectations) group pressure.Conformity can also be obviously defined as yielding to group pressures (Crutchfield, 1955). Group pressure may take different forms, for example bullying, persuasion, teasing, criticism etc. Conformity is also known as majority influence (or group pressure).The term treaty is often used to indicate an agreement to the majority position, brought about both by a want to habilitate in or be liked (normative) or because of a desire to be correct (informational), or simply to accommodate to a hearty role (identification).There pee-pee been many opine intos in psychology investigating ossification and group pressure.Jenness (1932) was the prototypical psychologist to require conformity. His examine was an ambiguous situation involving a glass nursing bottle filled with beans. He asked participants one after a nother to estimate how many beans the bottle contained. Jenness and so put the group in a room with the bottle, and asked them to provide a group estimate through discussion.Participants were then asked to estimate the number on their own again to find whether their initial estimates had altered based on the influence of the majority. Jenness then interviewed the participants case-by-casely again, and asked if they would like to change their original estimates, or stay with the groups estimate. Almost all changed their case-by-case guesses to be closer to the group estimate.However, perhaps the most famous conformity experiment was by Solomon Asch (1951) and his line judgment experiment.Types of Social ConformityMan (1969) states that the fragrance of conformity is yielding to group pressure. He identified threesome types of conformity Normative, informational and ingratiational.Kelman (1958) distinguished between three different types of conformity Compliance, incorporation a nd identification. Normative ConformityInformational ConformityYielding to group pressure because a soul wants to fit in with the group. E.g. Asch Line Study. Conforming because the individual is scared of macrocosm rejected by the group. This type of conformity ordinarily involves compliance where a person publicly accepts the views of a group but privately rejects them.This usually occurs when a person lacks knowledge and looks to the group for guidance. Or when a person is in an ambiguous (i.e. unclear) situation and socially compares their behavior with the group. E.g. Sherif Study. This type of conformity usually involves internalization where a person accepts the views of the groups and adopts them as an individual.ComplianceInternalizationPublicly changing behavior to fit in with the group while privately disagreeing. In other words, conforming to the majority (publicly), in spite of not real agreeing with them (privately). This is seen in Aschs line experiment.Publ icly changing behavior to fit in with the group and also agreeing with them privately. This is seen in Sherifs autokinetic experiment.Ingratiational ConformityIdentificationWhere a person conforms to impress or gain favor/acceptance from other people. It is alike(p) to normative influence but is motivated by the need for social rewards rather than the threat of rejection, i.e., group pressure does not enter the decisiveness to conform.Conforming to the expectations of a social role.Similar to compliance, there does not ease up to be a change in private opinion. A fair example is Zimbardos Prison Study.Sherif (1935) Autokinetic Effect ExperimentAim Sherif (1935) conducted an experiment with the aim of demonstrating that people conform to group norms when they are put in an ambiguous (i.e. unclear) situation. Method Sherif used a lab experiment to study conformity. He used the autokinetic effect this is where a small spot of wild (projected onto a screen) in a dark room will loo k to move, even though it is still (i.e. it is a visual illusion).It was discovered that when participants were individually tested their estimates on how far the lite moved varied considerably (e.g. from 20cm to 80cm). The participants were then tested in groups of three. Sherif manipulated the composition of the group by putt together two people whose estimate of the light movement when solo was very similar, and one person whose estimate was very different. Each person in the group had to say aloud how far they thought the light had moved.Results Sherif found that over numerous estimates (trials) of the movement of light, the group converged to a parking lot estimate. As the figure below shows the person whose estimate of movement was greatly different to the other two in the group conformed to the view of the other two.Sherif said that this showed that people would always tend to conform. Rather than make individual judgments they tend to come to a group agreement.Conclusion The results show that when in an ambiguous situation (such as theautokinetic effect), a person will look to others (who know to a greater extent / better) for guidance (i.e. adopt the group norm). They want to do the right thing but may lack the appropriate information. detect others can provide this information. This is known as informational conformity.Non ConformityNot everyone conform to social pressure. Indeed, their are many factors that contribute to an individuals desire to remain independent of the group.For example, Smith and Bond (1998) discovered cultural differences in conformity between western and eastern countries. People from western cultures (such as America and the UK) are more presumable to be individualistic and slangt want to be seen as being the same as everyone else.This means that they value being independent and self sufficient (the individual is more important that the group), and as such are more likely to participate in non conformity.In contrast east ern cultures (such as Asian countries) are more likely to value the needs of the family and other social groups before their own. They are known as collectivist cultures and are more likely to conform.