Specification: Types of conformity: internalisation, identification and compliance. Explanations for conformity: informational social influence and normative social influence.

Types of Conformity

Conformity is a type of social influence that describes how a person changes their attitude or behaviour in response to group pressure. There are many different situations where people conform and psychologists have categorised three main types of conformity, including: compliance, identification and internalisation.

• Compliance is the shallowest level of conformity. Here a person changes their public behaviour, the way they act, but not their private beliefs. This is usually a short-term change and is often the result of normative social influence (NSI). For example, you might say that you like dub-step music because many other people in your class like dub-step music, however privately you can't stand it.

• Identification is the middle level of conformity. Here a person changes their public behaviour and their private beliefs, but only while they are in the presence of the group. This is a usually a short-term change and normally the result of normative social influence (NSI). For example, a person may decide to become a vegetarian because all of their new flat mates are vegetarian. However, whenever they walk past a McDonald's they can't resist a Big Mac and when they are away from their flat mates they still eat meat. Identification takes place when we are surrounded by a particular group; we change our private beliefs while in the presence of the majority but not permanently.

• Internalisation is the deepest level of conformity. Here a person changes their public behaviour and their private beliefs. This is usually a long-term change and often the result of informational social influence (ISI). For example, if an individual is influenced by a group of Buddhists and converts to this faith, then their new religious way of life will continue without the presence of the group as they have internalised this belief.

Explanations for Conformity

In addition to the three types of conformity (compliance, identification and internalisation) which describe how people conform, there are also two explanations of why people conform, including: normative social influence (NSI) and informational social influence (ISI).

Normative social influence (NSI) is when a person conforms to be accepted and to feel that they belong to the group. Here a person conforms because it is socially rewarding, or to avoid social rejection; for example, to avoid feeling that they don't "Fit in'. Normative social influence is usually associated with compliance and identification. With compliance, people change their public behaviour but not their private beliefs; with identification people change their public behaviour and their private beliefs, but only in the presence of the group. Therefore, this explanation of social influence leads to a short- term type of conformity, which is motivated by the desire to fit in with the majority.

Informational social influence (ISI) is when a person conforms to gain knowledge, or because they believe that someone else is 'right. Informational social influence is usually associated with internalisation, where a person changes both their public behaviour and their private beliefs, on a long-term basis. This semi-permanent change in behaviour and belief is the result of a person adopting a new belief system, because they genuinely believe that their new beliefs are 'right' or that the majority are "experts . For example, if a person changes their political ideology from Conservative to Liberal, then they have internalised these new beliefs on a semi-permanent basis and believe that voting Liberal is 'right' for them.

Evaluating explanations for conformity

Asch’s (1951) study into conformity provides research support for normative social influence. He found that many of the participants went along with the obviously wrong answers of the other group members. When asked by Asch in post-experimental interviews why they did this, participants said that they changed their answer to avoid disapproval from the rest of the group, which clearly shows that compliance had occurred as the participants conformed in order to ‘fit in’. Further to this, Asch demonstrated in a later variation (1955) that when the pressure to publicity conforms is removed by asking participants to write down their answers on a piece of paper, rather than say them aloud, the conformity rates fell to 12.5% as the fear of rejection became far less.

Jenness (1932) provides research support for the role of informational social influence. Participants were asked to initially make independent judgements about the number of beans contained in a jar and then discuss their estimates in a group. Participants then made a second, individual private estimate. Jenness found that this second private estimate moved closer to the group estimate and that females typically conformed more. This shows that internalisation of group beliefs will occur especially in unfamiliar, ambiguous situations.

Individual differences may play a role in explaining social influence, which means that the processed will not affect everyone’s behaviour in the same way. For example, Perrin and Spencer (1980) conducted an Asch-style experiment, but this time using engineering students in the UK. Only one conforming response was observed out of nearly 400 trials. This could be due to the fact that the students felt more confident in their ability to judge line lengths due to their experience in engineering and so felt less pressure to conform. Alternatively, it could be argued that this difference is due to a historical bias from comparing research conducted in a different era and almost 30 years apart where rapid social changes have emerges and norms have changed.

There are real-world applications which demonstrate that normative social influence also occurs beyond the artificial laboratory setting. For example, Schultz et al (2008) gathered data from many hotels over a week where guests were allocated to rooms randomly as either control or experimental conditions. In the control rooms, there was a door hanger informing the participants of the environmental benefits of reusing towels. In the experimental condition, there was additional information stating that ‘75% of guests chose to reuse their towels each day’. The results showed that in comparison to the control conditions, guests who received a message that contained normative information about other guests reduced their need for fresh towels by 25%, showing they had conformed in order to ‘fit in’ with the perceived group behaviour.

Key study: Jenness (1932)

Aim: To examine whether individuals will change their opinion in an ambiguous (unclear) situation, in response to group discussion.

Method: Jenness used an ambiguous situation that involved a glass bottle filled with 811 white beans. His sample consisted of 26 students, who individually estimated how many beans that the glass bottle contained. Participants were then divided into groups of three and asked to provide a group estimate through discussion. Following the discussion, the participants were provided with another opportunity to individually estimate the number of beans, to see if they changed the original answer.

Results: Jenness found that nearly all participants changed their original answer when they were provided with another opportunity to estimate the number of beans in the glass bottle. On average, males participants changed their answers by 256 beans and female participants changed their answers by 382 beans. Furthermore, the range of the whole group went from 1,875 before the discussion to 474 afterward, a decrease of 75%, which demonstrates the converging opinions of the participants, after their discussions.

Conclusion: These results suggest that the individuals changed their initial estimate due to informational social influence, as they believed that the group estimates were more likely to be correct, in comparison to their own. 

Possible exam questions

1. Which one of the following is an explanation of conformity? (1 mark)

a) Compliance

b) Identification

c) Group size

d) Normative social influence

2. One type of conformity is compliance. What do social psychologists mean by the term compliance? (1 mark)

3. Identify which two of the following are types of conformity. Only shade two boxes. (2 marks) 

a) Compliance

b) Agentic state

c) Group size

d) Unanimity

e) Identification 

4. It is Ajay’s first day in a new job and he spends lots of time observing his work colleagues, so that he will fit in with them and be approved of. Explain Ajay’s behaviour in terms of compliance. (2 marks)

5. The following comments refer to alternative types of conformity. Select two phrases which best describe internalisation. Only select two boxes. (2 marks) 

a) The deepest level of conformity

b) Where a person goes along with a majority but does not agree with them

c) The beliefs of the group become part of the person’s own beliefs

d) Where a person goes along publicly while privately disagreeing

e) A short‐term change in a person’s beliefs.

6. What is meant by normative social influence. (2 marks)

7. Alexandra has recently started working at a new office. On her first day in her new role she noticed that all her work colleagues were more smartly dressed than she was. Explain the likely effect that normative social influence will have on Alexandra’s future behaviour. (2 marks)

8. Explain what is meant by informational social influence. (3 marks)

9. Explain what is meant by internalisation. (3 marks) 

10. Outline and evaluate normative social influence and informational social influence as explanations of conformity. (16 marks)