AQA Psychology for A Level Year 1 & AS - Types and Explanations of Conformity

Key Concepts in Conformity

• Conformity: A change in a person's behavior or opinions due to real or imagined pressure from a group (Elliot Aronson 2011).
  • Types of conformity:
    • Internalisation: Deep conformity; accepting the group view as correct, leading to permanent change, even in absence of the group.
    • Identification: Moderate conformity; wanting to be part of a group, leading to public conformity without private agreement.
    • Compliance: Superficial, temporary conformity; outwardly conforming while privately disagreeing, change only lasts under group influence.

Explanations for Conformity

• Informational Social Influence (ISI):

  • Desire to be correct; following the majority due to belief in their correctness.
  • A cognitive process, prevalent in ambiguous or crisis situations, and when others are seen as experts.
  • Can lead to internalisation.

• Normative Social Influence (NSI):

  • Desire to be liked; conforming to gain social approval or to avoid rejection.
  • An emotional process, common in new or stressful situations, with strangers, or within peer groups.
  • Can lead to compliance.

Detailed Analysis by Psychologists

• Herbert Kelman (1958):

  • Describes three ways of majority influence: Internalisation, Identification, Compliance.

• Morton Deutsch and Harold Gerard (1955):

  • Two-process theory of conformity based on the need to be right (ISI) and the need to be liked (NSI).

Application Example

• Social Influence at College:
  • Example scenario with Oliver and Lola:
    • Oliver: Influenced by Normative Social Influence (NSI); pretends interest to gain social approval.
    • Lola: Influenced by Informational Social Influence (ISI); imitates others to ensure correctness.

Chapter 1 Review

• The chapter discusses the fundamental psychology of social influence, focusing on how group dynamics shape individual behaviors and decisions.