Conformity: Types and Explanations

Internalisation

• Private and public acceptance of group norms.

Identification

• Change behaviour to be part of a group we identify with.

Compliance

• Go along with group publicly but no private change.

Informational social influence (ISI)

• Conform to be right.
• Assume others know better than us.

Normative social influence (NSI)

• Conform to be liked or accepted by group.

Research support for ISI

• More conformity to incorrect maths answers when they were difficult, as predicted by ISI.

Individual differences in NSI

• Affiliators want to be liked more.

ISI and NSI work together

• Dissenter may reduce power of ISI and NSI.

Evaluation extra

• Individual differences in NSI
• Research support for NSI