This document discusses several theories of conformity in social psychology. It describes three types of conformity proposed by Man (1969) and Kelman (1958). Deutsch and Gerard (1955) created the Dual Process Dependency Model and Normative Social Influence theory. Asch (1951) conducted an experiment where participants conformed to an incorrect majority around one third of the time. Theories suggest people conform due to uncertainty, to fit in with groups, or to make a good impression on others.

2. • Conformity is a type of social influence
involving a change in belief in order to fit in
with a group (Also known as majority
influence).

3.  Three types of conformity developed by Man
(1969):
1. Normative Conformity- yielding to group
pressure because a person wants to fit in with a
group.
2. Informational Conformity- occurs when a
person lacks knowledge and looks to a group
for guidance.
3. Ingratiational Conformity- a person conforms to
impress or gain favor/ acceptance from other
people.

4. • Three types of conformity developed by Kelman
(1958):
1. Compliance- Publicly changing behavior to fit in
with the group while privately disagreeing.
2. Internalization- Publicly changing behavior to fit
in with the group and also agreeing with them
privately.
3. Identification- conforming to the expectations of
a social role.

5.  Deutsch and Gerard (1955) created the Dual
Process Dependency Model and the Normative
Social Influence.
› DPDM: Where people conform out of a desire to be
like and accepted.
› NSI: people conform out of a desire to be right.
 Turner developed a theory that states that the
dual process dependency model
underestimates the psychological importance of
group membership (like identification).

6.  Solomon Asch (1951) conducted an experiment to investigate the
extent to which social pressure from a group could affect a person to
conform.
 Using the line judgment task, Asch put a naive participant in a room
with four to six confederates. The confederates had agreed in
advance what their responses would be when presented with the line
task. The real participant did not know this and was led to believe that
the other seven participants were also real participants like
themselves. Each person in the room had to state aloud which
comparison line (A, B or C) was most like the target line.
 The answer was always obvious. The real participant sat at the end of
the row and gave his or her answer last.
 In some trials, the seven confederates gave the wrong answer. There
were 18 trials in total and the confederates gave the wrong answer on
12 trails (called the critical trials). Asch was interested to see if the real
participant would conform to the majority view.

7.  Results: Asch measured the number of times each participant
conformed to the majority view. On average, about one third (32%)
of the participants who were placed in this situation went along and
conformed. Over the 12 critical trials about 75% of participants
conformed at least once and 25% of participant never conformed.

8.  Asch deceived the student volunteers claiming they
were taking part in a 'vision' test; the real purpose
was to see how the 'naive' participant would react
to the behavior of the confederates.
 Perrin and Spencer (1980) carried out an exact
replication of the original Asch experiment using
British engineering, mathematics and chemistry
students as participants. The results were clear
cut: on only one out of 396 trials did a participant
conform with the incorrect majority. This shows the
Asch experiment has poor reliability.

9.  One main reason why people conform in
society is because we have been taught to
all our lives in the form of rules.
 Solomon Asch and Muzafer Sherif credit
conformity to uncertainty in unfamiliar
situations. If someone is in a situation where
they are unsure of what to do, they conform
to the ways of the people around them.
› This is called informative conformity

10.  In other situations, people conform to escape
ridicule, much like if you were the only one in
the room that believed differently from
everyone else on a certain subject.
 Asch and Sherif also credit conformity to a
person’s want to make a good impression on
those around them.
› This is normative conformity.