Majority influence conformity

( Conformity )
By
ANUPAM PANDEY
M.Sc.,Dept. of Psychology,
UNIVERSITY OF ALLAHABAD
Majority Influence

Conformity:
 Definition:
- Generally conformity means pressure to behave in
ways that are viewed as acceptable or appropriate by a
group or society.
- Conformity refers to deep-seated, private and enduring
change in behaviour and attitudes due to group pressure.
- In conformity group pressure is less direct,than as in
case of compliance and obedience.
13-08-20152 MAJORITY INFLUENCE

Sherif’s Autokinetic Phenomenon:
 Muzafer Sherif (1951) studied an interesting situation, known as
Autokinetic Phenomenon. Autokinetic phenomenon refers to the
fact that when placed in completely dark room and exposed to a
single, stationary point of light, most people perceive the light as
moving about.
 Participants were placed in this setting with several others and
asked to report what they perceive the light to be doing. They
influence one another and soon converge on a particular amount
of movement; that agreement, in a sense, constitute a group
norm.

Conti…..
 If the same individuals are then placed in the situation
alone, they continue to give estimate of the light’s
movement consistent with the group norms.
 This suggest that these effects reflect private accepatnce or
commitment that they continue to obey the group norm
even if they are no longer in the group.

Asch’s Experiment on Conformity:
 Asch(1951,55) conducted an experiment in which
participants task was to simply respond to a series of
perceptual problems.
 On each of the problems, participants were to indicate
which of three comparison lines matched a standard line
in length. Some confederates( usually six to eight) were
also present during the experiment. Their task was to
answer unanimously by choosing the wrong line as a
match for the standard line on certain ocassions known

Conti…..
as critical trials( twleve out of eighteen). 37% of the time
they voiced agreement with these errors.
 In later studies he repeted his basic procedure with one
important change. Instead of stating their answers out loud,
participants wrote them down on a piece of paper. The
conformity dropped sharply because they didn’t have to
display the fact that they disagreed to the other people
present.often, it appears, we follow social norms overtly but
don’t acually change our private views.( Mass & Clark,
1984)

Who conforms ?
 In Asch’s study, since large individual differences were observed
in responding to conformity situation( 67% conformed in at least
one trail, but 5% fully conformed on all 12 trails).It means some
personality attributes predispose some people to conform than
others.
 Those who conform tend to have low self-esteem, a high need for
social-support or social approval, a need for self-control, low IQ,
high anxiety, feelings of self-blame and insecurity in the group,
feelings of inferiority, feelings of relatively low status in the group

Conti….
.
and a generally authoriterian personality. (Crastanzo, 1970;
Crutchfield, 1955; Elms & Milgram, 1966).
 However, the evidence that people who conform in one situation
do not conform in another, suggest that situational factors may be
more important than personality in conformity( Barocas & Gorlow,
1967;Barron, 1953; McGuire, 1968;Vaughan, 1964).
 In situational factors, group size, group unanimity, group
cohesiveness, and descriptive and injuctive norms are important
factors which affect conformity.13-08-20158 MAJORITY INFLUENCE

Factors affecting conformity:
 Cohesiveness and conformity:
 One factor that strongly influences our tendency to
conform is cohesiveness- the extent to which we are
attracted to a particular social group and want to belong
to it.(e.g..Turner, 1991). The greater the cohesiveness is,
the more we tend to follow the norms( rules) of the
group.

Conti…
 Group size and conformity:
 Asch(1956) and many others found that conformity
increases with group size but only up to about five-
seven members, and beyond that point, it appears to
level off or even decease. But more recent research
has failed to confirm these early findings
concerning group size.(e.g., Bond & Smith,1996).

Conti…..
 Group Unanimity and conformity:
 Asch (1952) have found that as the unanimous majority
increased from one person to two, to three, to four, to eight, to
ten-fifteen,the conformity rate increased and then decreased
slightly: 3, 13, 33, 35, 32, 31 percent.
 Asch’s original experiment employed a unanimous erroneous
majority to obtain a conformity rate of 33 percent. Subsequent
research have shown that conformity is greatly reduced if the
majority is not unanimous( Allen, 1975).

Conti…..
 Asch found that a correct supporter( response same as
true participant) reduced conformity from 33 to 5.5%.
 Descriptive and Injuctive social norms:
 Descriptive norms are ones that simply describe what
most people do in a given situation. They influence
behaviour by informing us about what is generally seen
as effective or adaptivein that situation.

Conti…..
 In contrast, injuctive norms specify what ought to be done-
what is approved or disapproved behaviour in a given
situation.
 Normative focus theory( Cialdini, Reno, & Kallgren, 1990)
explains when injuctive norms influence behaviour. This
theory suggest that norms will influence behaviour only to
the extent that they are salient to the people involved at the
time the behaviour occurs.

Conti…..
Gender Differences:
 Women are typically found to conform slightly more than
men in conformity studies.
 However, this can generally be explained in terms of the
conformity tasks employed- ones with which women have
less familiarity and expertise, experience greater subjective
uncertainty, and thus are influenced more than men(Eagly,
1978; Eagly & Carl, 1981; Eagly and Wood,1991; Sistrunk &
McDavid, 1971). 13-08-201514 MAJORITY INFLUENCE

Cultural differences:
 In an analysed conformity study, by Smith and Bond
(1998), it was found that conformity was lower among
participants from individualistic cultures in North
America, and north-western Europe(25.3%) than among
participants from collectivist or interdependent cultures in
Africa, Asia, Oceania, and South America(37.1%).
 The higher level of conformity in collectivist cultures is
because conformity is viewed

Conti…..
 favourably, as a form of social glue( Markus &
Kitayama, 1991).
 Although conformity is lower in individualistic
culture, it is still remarkably high; even when
conformity has negative overtones, people find it
difficult to resist conformity to group norms.

Normative and informational influence:
 According to most social psychologists, two
processes of social influence are responsible for
conformity (Kelley, 1952; Deutsch & Gerard, 1955):
1. Informational influence, and
2. Normative influence

Informational influence:
 Informational influence (the desire to be right) is an influence
to accept information from another as evidence about reality.
People have a need to feel confident that their perceptions,
beliefs and feelings are correct. Informational influence
comes into play when people are uncertain, either because
stimuli are intrisically ambiguous or because there is social
disagreement. Under these circumstances, people initially
make objective tests against reality, but if this is not possible,
they make social Comparison ( Festinger, 1950,54).

Conti…..
 Effective informational influence causes true cognitive change.
 Informational influence was probably partially responsible for
the effects found by Sherif(1936) in his autokinetic studies.
 Asch (1952) found that conformity increased as the comparison
lines were made more similar to one another and the judgement
task thus becomes more difficult.

Normative influence:
 Normative influence (the desire to be liked) is an
influence to conform to the positive expectations
of others.
 People have a need for social approval and
acceptance, which causes them to ‘go along with’
the group for instrumental reasons- to cultivate
approval and acceptance, avoid censure or
disapproval, or achieve specific goals.

Conti…..
 Normative influence comes into play when the group is
perceived as to have the power and ability to mediate rewards
and punishment contingent on our behaviour.
 An important prediction is that one is under the surveillance
by the group. Effective normative influence creates surface
compliance rather than true cognitive change.
 Normative influence was the principal cause of conformity in
the Asch’s paradigm.13-08-201521 MAJORITY INFLUENCE

Resisting pressures to conform:
 While many factors appear to be important, three seem to
be most important:
 The need to maintain individuality:
 Along with the needs to be right and to be liked, most of us
possess a desire for individuation- for being distinguishable
from others in some respect(e.g., Maslach, Santee &
Wade,1987).
 The need for individuation varies greatly across cultures.

Conti…..
 The desire for personal control:
 Another reason why individuals often choose to
resist group pressure involves their desire to
maintain control over the events in their lives.
 The stronger individual’s need for personal control,
the less likely they are yield to social
pressure.(Cialdini,2000).

Conti…..
 Norms that encourage individualism:
 Sometimes, the norms of a specific group suggest-
“do your own thing- do it your own way” . The
kind of group that are seeking social change and
that once emphasize the importance of individual
preferences and choices, adopt such norms.

Majority influence conformity

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