There are two main explanations for conformity: normative social influence (NSI) and informational social influence (ISI). NSI takes place when a person conforms to ‘fit in’. With NSI, a person conforms because they want to feel as though they belong to a particular group and to avoid social rejection (e.g. being an outsider). NSI is often linked to compliance and identification because in both cases the change in behaviour is short-term, while the person is in the presence of the group.
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There is research support for the notion of NSI. Asch found that the real participants gave visibly incorrect answers on a line judgement task, due to the influence from a larger group of confederates. When the participants were questioned, following the study, many explained that they had changed their answers in order to fit in and to avoid social rejection from the group. This suggests that the participants experienced NSI and conformed because they wanted to fit in and avoid social rejection.
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In subsequent variations of his experiment, Asch varied the size of the majority. Asch found that conformity reaches a peak of approximately 30% with just three confederates and remains relatively stable from three confederates to 15. This suggests that just three confederates are enough to create a majority and that this majority can exert enough pressure to trigger NSI.
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ISI is where a person conforms to be ‘right’. With ISI, a person conforms because they believe that someone else has more knowledge and therefore knows how to behave appropriately in a particular social situation. ISI is often linked to internalisation, as a person will change their public behaviour and private beliefs over a longer period of time. This long-term change is important, as it suggests that a person fully accepts that these new beliefs are correct as they become part of their belief system.
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There is also research support for the notion of ISI. Jenness (1932) asked participants to individually estimate the number of white beans in a jar, before discussing their answers as a group. Jenness found that when the participants were given a second opportunity to individually estimate the number of white beans, most of them changed their original answer and brought their original estimate closer to the group estimate. This suggests that the participants changed their original answer because they believed that the group had more knowledge collectively, and was more likely to be right, thus demonstrating the power of informational social influence.
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Variations of Asch also provided support for ISI. In one variation, Asch made the task harder by making the differences between the lines (A, B and C) much smaller. This made the task more ambiguous as the correct answer was not always obvious. In this variation, Asch found that conformity actually increased. This increase in conformity is likely to be the result of ISI as the participants may have conformed, over and above the original experiment, because they believed that the group was right, rather than to fit in.