Conformity is when someone changes their behaviour or beliefs due to social pressure. This usually results from peer or media pressure. Compliance is when we change our behaviour but not our opinion; we often do this when requested by someone in a position of power. Internalisation is when there is a change in our behaviour and opinion and we internalise another person’s opinions and views. In a study conducted by Deutsch and Gerrard (1955) they found that we have two main reasons that motivate us to conform; Informational influence and normative influence. Informational influence is when a person is uncertain so they conform because they want to be right. An example of this would be in class, if you are unsure of the answer to a question so you change your answer to the same as your classmates as you assume they are correct. We …show more content…
A confederate is a person who assists in a psychology experiment and knows exactly what the experiment is about. These confederates were told to give incorrect answers in advance. The group was shown 18 cards and had to match the line to one of the three lines that were shown to them. The confederates would give 12 out of the 18 wrong answers and the true participant would be one of the last people to give an answer, this means they can give the answer that is clearly correct or they can conform to the majority and give incorrect answer. It was found that 75% of the participants gave an incorrect answer to at least one question. The factors that affect conformity can either be situational factors or individual differences. Situational factors include things like group size, social support, similarity of group, and secrecy of response. Individual differences that can have an effect on conformity level include age, sex, cognition, personality and culture. Eagly