Conformity (SimplyPsychology 2007) is a form of social influence and can be defined as the tendency for a person, the minority, to change their beliefs or actions/behaviour as a response to pressure from a majority influence, in order to fit in and become a part of that majority group. This social influence can either be imagined or real. An example of when a person may conform, is dictating what they wear and what is fashionable, however this example is more likely to affect younger persons.
One theory of conformity is compliance. The theory suggests that compliance is a superficial type of conformity. This means that, a person conforms, by changing their behaviour and acts in a way to conform and fit in with the majority group and be accepted socially, but doesn’t actually change their true beliefs or attitudes. This could mean that their behaviour or actions they carry out, they may not morally agree with and they’re just doing it because of the social pressures from the majority group. There are also …show more content…
This is because he asked a person to carry out a small task. Then when the person has completed the smaller task, then go on to ask them to do a bigger task. The study involved the participants, acting as the teacher having to administer shocks for wrong answers to an actor playing the role of the learner, starting with relatively low level shocks (volts) leading up to high voltage electric shocks, with 450v being the max. He found that 100% of participants gave shocks up to 300v and 65% gave the maximum 450v. The reason why so many of the 40 participants gave a high potentially fatal electric shock is cause of gradual commitment, which was down to the foot-in-door technique. Therefore this study supports the theory of compliances ability to achieve
One theory of conformity is compliance. The theory suggests that compliance is a superficial type of conformity. This means that, a person conforms, by changing their behaviour and acts in a way to conform and fit in with the majority group and be accepted socially, but doesn’t actually change their true beliefs or attitudes. This could mean that their behaviour or actions they carry out, they may not morally agree with and they’re just doing it because of the social pressures from the majority group. There are also …show more content…
This is because he asked a person to carry out a small task. Then when the person has completed the smaller task, then go on to ask them to do a bigger task. The study involved the participants, acting as the teacher having to administer shocks for wrong answers to an actor playing the role of the learner, starting with relatively low level shocks (volts) leading up to high voltage electric shocks, with 450v being the max. He found that 100% of participants gave shocks up to 300v and 65% gave the maximum 450v. The reason why so many of the 40 participants gave a high potentially fatal electric shock is cause of gradual commitment, which was down to the foot-in-door technique. Therefore this study supports the theory of compliances ability to achieve