PSYC 100 Chapter 13.1-13.3: PSYC 100 Social Psychology II

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 100
• Professor: Jordan Poppenk

Document Summary

Explain compliance and the principles that are used to facilitate its occurrence. Conformity occurs when behaviour or attitudes change in order to fit into a group. It allows us to function safely and effectively in society and are part of what make up normal social interaction. It can have harmful consequences, one example of which is bullying. Two studies of conformity including sherif"s 1936 study andasch"s 1951 study explain two types of conformity. Muzafer sherif"s study showed how norms developed in small groups. Using male participants, they studied how far men indicated the light was moving in front of them, although it wasn"t really moving and just an optical illusion known as the autokinetic effect. At first individual"s sat alone and created a standard response where the same amount of movement was reported. When joined with others, standards changed until all participants converged on one standard, developing a group norm.