nAffiliator Or Na?🥗

‘Conformity is a change In a person’s behavior or opinions as a result of real or imagined pressure from a person or group of people’ (Elliot Aronson 2011)

Morton Deutsch and Harold Gerard (1955) developed a Two Process Theory that argues there are two reasons why people conform. The reasons are based on two human needs;

• The need to be Right (ISI)

• The need to be Liked (NSI)

The informational Social Influence (ISI)

As humans, we question ourselves a lot. We question ourselves about behaviors and beliefs- what is right and what is wrong. The ISI is a cognitive process that is to do with what you think. Say, for example, you’re In a class ( A subject that you find confusing) and as a group you’ve been asked to answer a series of questions. If you find the subject hard, you probably won’t be too confident In your answers (unless you’re suuuuper self-assured!). We all want to be right and we’ll try our best to be right. One way that we do this is by conforming. Evidence to support the ISI would be a study showing that more people conformed to the incorrect maths answer when they were difficult. When you have an answer that is different to everyone else’s it’s likely that you’ll change your answer to the most common one amongst the group, in order to be right. This is common in; situations that you’re unsure about, situations where decisions have to be made quickly such as emergencies and also If there is a person (or group) that are seen as experts. This is because we assume that others know better than us.

The Normative Social Influence (NSI)

As humans, we like to be liked. People who need EVERYONE to like them can be called a nAffiliator. We need to have approval from others rather than to be rejected or disregarded from the people around us. The normative social influence is about what is ‘normal’ behavior for a social group. Unlike the cognitive ISI, NSI is an emotional process. An example of this would be if we were in a group of people, we didn’t know. If we were with people we didn’t know we’d be extra careful with everything that we do- perhaps even copying the actions of others to make yourself fit in and to try and get them to accept you. On the other hand, it may even occur with the people that we know. We crave social approval especially from our friends and so this may be the reason you find yourself adapting to the people around you and subconsciously conforming to whatever they do – including their style and dialect (also commonly found with romantic partners). A key difference between the ISI and the NSI would be that nAffiliators are the way they are because they want to be liked rather than right. Evidence for this would be Asch (1951) who found that many of his participants went along with the clearly wrong answer just because others did. He asked them why they did this and some of them said they felt self-conscious. When Asch asked them to write down the answers rather than say them aloud. The conformity rates dropped to 12.5% showing how people are more likely to conform to whatever the majority says in order to be accepted.

There are 3 different types of conformity:

Compliance:

- conforming outwardly,

- Publicly agreeing but privately disagreeing.

- An example of this could be sitting with a group of beliebers and pretending as if you’re completely star-struck over Justin Himself, but then going home or to a different group of people and ranting about how sick he makes you feel!🤢

Identification:

- Conforming to the demands of a given role,

- Privately and publicly going along with someone until you leave the group and have no contact with people from your surroundings.

- An example of this could be revising. You could be at school or uni with a group of people that are passionate about their revision and their work. When you’re with them, they all sit around you in silence with their headphones in, and their work scattered in front of them (can’t relate) you could be inspired to do the same as them- conforming to your given role. You may then find yourself going home and doing more revision as your friends have influenced you. After you have finished school or completed uni- and stopped hanging around with that group of people every day, you could find yourself forgetting about doing extra work, slipping back into your old routines, this is identification conformity.📚

Internalisation:

- Conforming through outward as well as inward agreement,

- A permanent and long lasting change- you can leave uni and still carry on being a vegetarian

- You have made it a part of you.

- Finally, we have internalisation. An example of this could be living a vegan/vegetarian lifestyle. You may have gone to uni and lived out with a group of people that you’ve never met before – and then you find out that you’ve been coincidentally chosen to share a flat with 5 others, who all live a vegetarian lifestyle. You don’t want to stand out and you want them to all like you so you pretend that you’re also a vegetarian. Whilst you’re dreaming about the big fat cheeseburger you’ll order later on that night, you’re eating a flimsy veggie burger and you’re not living the life you expected. As time goes you get used to it and you start to enjoy it. You then read into more depth about it- find different meals for yourself to enjoy, whilst reading the benefits of being a vegetarian. Before you know it your time at uni is over, but you aren’t ready to eat meat again. Keeping this vegetarian lifestyle long after you’ve left uni is the process of internalisation conformity.🍔

Conformity is inevitable and we have all done it at some point in our lives – to be right or to be liked, in the form of outwardly agreeing or internalizing the trend. It’s not a bad thing and depending on the situation could benefit you, and make your life a little easier! Conformity comes in stages; compliance, internalisation and finally internalisation and can be shown with everything from music and sports to your whole lifestyle- even your religion!

Reference: Flanagan C, Berry D, Jarvis M, Liddle R, 2015, AQA Psychology year 1 & AS, illuminate publishing LTD, UK Cambrian printers, Aberystwyth