Social Conformity
• Aim: To assess and compare social conformity among male and female students.
• Introduction: Social conformity is a type of social influence involving a change in
belief or behavior in order to fit in with a group. Conformity can also be simply
defined as “yielding to group pressure “. Group pressure may take different forms,
for example, bullying, persuasion, teasing, criticism, etc. conformity is also known as
majority influence. The term conformity is often used to indicate an argument to
the majority position, brought about either by a desire to “fit in” or be liked
(normative) or because of a desire to be correct (informational), or simply to
cnformity to a social role (identification).`
• Jenners (1932) was the first psychologist to study conformity. This experiment was an ambiguous
situation involving a glass bottle filled with beam. He asked participants individually to estimate
how many beam the bottle contained. Jenners then placed the group in a room with the bottle,
and asked them to provide a group estimate through discussion. Participants were then asked to
estimate the number on their own, again to find whether their initial estimate had altered based
on the influence of the majority. Jenners then interviewed the participants individually and asked
if they would like to change their original estimate or stay with the original estimate. Almost all
the changed their individual guesses to be closer to the group estimate. However, the most
famous conformity experiment was by Solomon Asch (1951) and his line judgement.
• Types of conformity:
• Normative conformity
• Informative conformity
• Normative Conformity: It is a type of conformity yielding to group pressure because a person
wants to fit in with the group. The person is scared of being rejected by the group. This type of
conformity usually involves compliance- where a person publically accepts the view of a group
but privately rejects them.
• Informative conformity: It is a type of conformity when a person lacks the knowledge and looks
to the group for guidance or when a person is in ambiguous situation and socially compares
their behavior with the group. This type of conformity usually involves internalization where a
person accepts the view of the group and adopts them as an individual.
• Hypothesis: Females have higher level of social conformity than males.
• Methodology:
Particulars of the subjects
Name:
Age:
Sex:
Education:
Mental Status
• Material required: Social conformity Questionnaire by (Dhapola & Singh), Social conformity manual,
pencil and paper.
“I am going to administer a simple psychological test on you for which I need your sincere
cooperation. The results will help in self- knowledge and would always be kept confidential. You
have to read the instructions printed on the first page, carefully before commencing the test.
There will be 30 items related to different situations and how and individual acts in these
situations. Each item is having three statements. You have to choose the most suitable alternative
out of the three by placing a ( ) any one of three. After completing the test you have to return
the questionnaire and then allowed to go”.
• Precautions:
• The environment was kept calm and quite.
• There was proper light and ventilation in the room.
• The instructions were clearly delivered.
• The statistical analysis was carefully done.
• Procedure: Before starting the test the administrator collected all the materials requires for
the test. The subject was called and made comfortable and rapport was established. The
administrator started to give instructions and then the questionnaire was given to the
subject. The subject completed the questionnaire according to the instructions.
Introspective report was taken. The administrator thanked the subject and was allowed to
go. The results were calculated and were used for further interpretation.
Raw data table:
Male Female
Correct response
Incorrect
response
Norm table
Conformity Male Female
High 17 and above 18 and above
Medium 9-16 10- 19
Low Below 9 Below 10
Discussion:
Scoring
• If the option marked is either a, b or c, then a score of 1 ; if d then a score of 0.
1 A
2 B
3 C
4 A
5 C
6 B
7 B
8 C
9 B
10 A
11 B
12 A
13 C
14 C
15 B
15 B
16 C
17 A
18 B
19 C
20 A
21 C
22 B
23 A
24 A
25 A
26 B
27 A
28 B
29 C
30 A
