Why do people conform?

Explanations

Explanations....

• Normative social influence• Informational social influence• Social impact theory

What are they and how are they different?

Normative social influence

• Being liked and belonging• Fear of being excluded from the group• Compliance• Examples include bullies in school

Informational social influence

• Being right• When you don’t know what to do• Usually found during a crisis situation,

ambiguous situation and following the advice of an expert

• Internalisation• Examples include listening to a fireman

Social influence theory (Latane)• Based on the likelihood of responding to social

influence or when are people most likely to respond?

• Principles include, number of people influencing, strength (expert) and immediacy

• Examples include probation officers• Research was revised to include the 4Cs

consolidation, clustering (cliques), correlation, continuing diversity

Spot the mistakes – highlight the mistakes in the passage

ANSWERS

• Normative – internalisation, obey, easy• Informative – compliance, unambiguous,

ourselves, we• Social theory – low, large, small

Make the changes on the sheet

Summarise

• In no more than 10 wordsOr

• Draw a cartoon for each

Quiz

1. What is the motivation for Informational social influence?

Answer: Being right

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2. What is the motivation for Normative social influence?

Answer: Being liked

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3. Latane’s social impact theory put forward three principles, what were they?

Answer: 1. Number2. Strength3. Immediacy

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4. Bullying is an example of which social influence?

Answer: Normative social influence

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5. Are you more likely to comply or internalise in Informational social influence?

Answer: Internalise

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6. A crisis is an example of which type of social influence?

Answer: Informational social influence

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7. “To accept both the public and the private opinion”. What type of conformity is this describing?

Answer: Internalisation

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8. Are you more likely to comply or internalise in Normative social influence?

Answer: Comply

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9. “The more important a person is to you, the more influence they have on you”, describes which principle of Social impact theory?

Answer: Strength

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Quiz

10. Some research into conformity cannot be related to real life. What is this said to be lacking?

Answer: Ecological validity

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Scenario 1

Alice was sure she knew about the best possible treatment

that she needed for her illness until her doctor convinced her

otherwise

Scenario 1

Alice was sure she knew about the best possible treatment that she needed for her illness until

her doctor convinced her otherwise

Internalisation because she agrees with the doctor both publically and privately

Informational social influence because Alice is listening and agreeing with an expert’s advice

Scenario 2

Jane has just started at a new school. She was willing to steal the caretakers keys, as a dare, even though she knew it was

wrong

Scenario 2Jane has just started at a new school. She was willing

to steal the caretakers keys, as a dare, even though she knew it was wrong

Compliance, privately knows it is wrongNormative social influence because she is doing

something to be likedSocial impact theory because she is being influenced

by the ‘crowd’ who she hangs around with (immediacy)

Scenario 3

After the earthquake the police told the survivors to go to the

town hall for shelter, many people did this. John decided

to follow

Scenario 3

After the earthquake the police told the survivors to go to the town hall for shelter, many people

did this. John decided to follow

Internalisation because he agreed with the decision both publically and privately

Informational social influence because he was responding in a crisis and following the actions

of an expert

Scenario 4

Tim’s friend offered him a cigarette yesterday, he tried it. He knows it is wrong but wants

to look cool

Scenario 4

Tim’s friend offered him a cigarette yesterday, he tried it. He knows it is wrong but wants to look

cool

Compliance because he knows it is wrongNormative social influence because he is following to fit in so that he isn’t excluded

Homework

Outline two explanations of conformity (6 marks)

Due: