Conformity

1
Conformity

• How similar are we to sheep and lemmings?

2
Is Conformity Good or Bad?

• Due to our upbringing in American culture,
  individuality has a certain allure
• But
• Another word for individualist is deviant
• Another word for conformist is team player
• Obviously, there are times where conformity, and
  obedience, are crucial
• Despite Hollywoods depiction, research
  (Schacter Kruglanski) shows that the conformist
  is liked more

3
Definitions

• Conformity a change in attitude or behavior due
  to the real or imagined presence of others.
• Compliance a change in behavior, but not
  attitude, due to the results of social pressure.
• Acceptance a change in both behavior and
  attitude.

4
Muzafer Sherif

• Will social norms evolve in the laboratory?
• Utilizes autokinetic effect to set up ambiguous
  stimulus.
• Participants first provide estimates of amount of
  movement by themselves.
• Then in a group of three, overall estimates tend
  to converge so that the three people provide
  similar answers.

5
Suggestibility

• Norm formation is, of course, just one form of
  suggestibility.
• Yawning
• Chameleon effect (non-verbal matching)
• Phillips research on copycat suicides
• Mass psychogenic illnesses
• Groupthink

6
Groupthink

• Irving Janis coined the term groupthink
• When concurrence seeking overrides realistic
  appraisal
• Factors that lead to groupthink
• Self-censorship
• Illusion of unanimity
• Direct pressure on dissenters
• Illusion of invulnerability
• Illusion of morality
• Stereotype and dismiss competitors

7
Solomon Asch

• Asch (19511956) completed two studies that
  demonstrate how easily conformity occurs
• Naïve subject is brought into lab with 6-8
  confederates
• Asked to make a judgment about line length
• Subject is seated next to last
• In 12 of 18 trials confederates provide the wrong
  answer DV is whether subject follows
• Ordinarily subjects make mistakes 1 of the time,
  in this experiment 36.8 of the time

8
Influences on Conformity in Asch

• Size of group as group size increases to 3
  others, conformity increases. After that, little
  change
• Presence of one dissenter decreases conformity
  immensely
• If dissenter disagrees with both it still reduces
  conformity
• The more wrong the majority was, the less
  influence
• The greater the privacy, the less conformity
• Accuracy versus approval issue
• Also known as informational vs. normative
  influence.

9
Variables that Increase/Decrease Conformity in
General

• Decrease lack of unanimity
• Decrease induce individual to make commitment to
  their initial judgment
• Decrease high-self esteem individuals
• Decrease Individualistic vs. Collective cultures
• Decrease feeling of security in a group
• Increase expert power
• Increase similarity of group to the individual

10
Stanley Milgram Obedience to Authority

• Participants brought into experiment on learning
  through punishment.
• Participant is always the teacher, the
  confederate is always the learner.
• Everytime that the learner is wrong on a word
  recognition task the teacher must administer a
  shock, with the shock increasing by 15 volts with
  each incorrect answer.

11
Stanley Milgram Obedience to Authority

• As the voltage increases, the learners
  objections become more vehement until they stop
  responding altogether at 345 volts.
• The question becomes, when do participants
  absolutely refuse to continue (they have to say
  they wont continue 4 consecutive times in order
  for the experimenter to stop the experiment).
• 65 of the participants went all the way to the
  end (450 volts).

12
Other Variables and Thoughts to Consider

• Milgram manipulated a number of different
  variables
• Distance between learner and teacher.
• Distance between experimenter and teacher.
• Location of the study.
• Whether the participant was the shocker or just
  an observer.
• Foot in the Door/Cognitive Dissonance.
• Fundamental Attribution Error.

13
Ethical Implications
14
Reactance

• Sometimes we do say no when our freedom is
  threatened.
• Romeo and Juliet Effect