conformity thesis
Conformity and Alienation Essay Outline
Thesis: Human behavior, feelings and thoughts can be predicted, altered and controlled through conformity and alienation.
Alienation: estrangement from society’s morals and goals, resulting in feelings of isolation.
Conformity: compliance with society’s accepted behavior and rules.
Experiments
Asch Experiment in Conformity
Solomon Asch
8 male students, 7 confederates and 1 real participant
Confederates gave an obviously wrong answer
Went along with group because believed the group was better informed than him ( informative conformity) or because wanted to fit in with other ‘participants’ (normative conformity)
Milgrams Shock Experiment
Stanley Milgram, questioned results of Holocaust
Participant took role of ‘teacher’ believing he/she administered various levels of shock to ‘student’. Student was confederate, pretending to be shocked
Screams of pain could be heard
65% of Milgrams study showed participants administered maximum level shock.
Factors increasing conformity
Factors decreasing conformity
Size of group-level of conformity increase as group size increases
Authoritative figure- person with status, higher knowledge can be very influential, (ex.) Das Experiment – Dr. Jutta, Dr. Thon & the professor
Difficulty – more difficult the task the greater the conformity. (Ex) Asch’s experiment, when lines were made similar length and harder to determine, conformity increased.
Unanimity- if others go against social norms, more people will rebel. (ex) Asch’s experiment showed if another participant gave right answer, conformity would decrease
Privacy- when participant allowed to answer in privacy, conformity drastically decreased
"The social psychology of this century reveals a major lesson: often it is not so much the kind of person a man is as the kind of situation in which he finds himself that determines how he will act." –Stanley Milgram, 1974
Thesis: Human behavior, feelings and thoughts can be predicted, altered and controlled through conformity and alienation.
Alienation: estrangement from society’s morals and goals, resulting in feelings of isolation.
Conformity: compliance with society’s accepted behavior and rules.
Experiments
Asch Experiment in Conformity
Solomon Asch
8 male students, 7 confederates and 1 real participant
Confederates gave an obviously wrong answer
Went along with group because believed the group was better informed than him ( informative conformity) or because wanted to fit in with other ‘participants’ (normative conformity)
Milgrams Shock Experiment
Stanley Milgram, questioned results of Holocaust
Participant took role of ‘teacher’ believing he/she administered various levels of shock to ‘student’. Student was confederate, pretending to be shocked
Screams of pain could be heard
65% of Milgrams study showed participants administered maximum level shock.
Factors increasing conformity
Factors decreasing conformity
Size of group-level of conformity increase as group size increases
Authoritative figure- person with status, higher knowledge can be very influential, (ex.) Das Experiment – Dr. Jutta, Dr. Thon & the professor
Difficulty – more difficult the task the greater the conformity. (Ex) Asch’s experiment, when lines were made similar length and harder to determine, conformity increased.
Unanimity- if others go against social norms, more people will rebel. (ex) Asch’s experiment showed if another participant gave right answer, conformity would decrease
Privacy- when participant allowed to answer in privacy, conformity drastically decreased
"The social psychology of this century reveals a major lesson: often it is not so much the kind of person a man is as the kind of situation in which he finds himself that determines how he will act." –Stanley Milgram, 1974