Conformity: types, explanations, Asch's research and Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment
Conformity is the tendency to change one's behaviour or opinions to match those of a group, even without being directly told to. Psychologists distinguish three types, compliance, identification and internalisation, based on whether the change is public or private, and temporary or permanent, explained by informational social influence (ISI) and normative social influence (NSI) and studied through Asch's line-judgment experiments and Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment.
Before you start
No specific prerequisites - this is a good place to start.
Method
- Learn the definitions of the three types of conformity (internalisation, compliance, identification) and how they differ in whether the change is public/private and temporary/permanent.
- Learn the two explanations for why conformity happens: informational social influence (ISI) and normative social influence (NSI), and the kind of situation that triggers each.
- Learn Asch's (1951) line-judgment procedure: a lone real participant among confederates, critical trials, and a unanimous incorrect answer.
- Learn Asch's key findings on overall conformity rate and individual differences between participants.
- Learn the variables Asch went on to manipulate (group size, unanimity, task difficulty) and how each affected conformity.
- Learn Zimbardo's (1971) Stanford Prison Experiment procedure and findings for both the 'guards' and the 'prisoners'.
- Learn the main evaluation points for both studies: sample bias, temporal validity (Perrin and Spencer, 1980), ecological validity, and the ethical issues raised by Zimbardo's study.
- Practise applying the types and explanations of conformity to new, everyday scenarios you have not seen before.
Worked example
At a work leaving-drinks event, colleagues are asked to guess how many sweets are in a jar. Priya privately thinks there are around 40, but the four colleagues who answer before her all confidently say '90'. She then says '90' too. Later, at home on her own, she still privately believes the true number is close to 40. Identify the type of conformity Priya has shown and explain which explanation for conformity (ISI or NSI) best accounts for her behaviour.
- Check whether Priya's private opinion changed: she still believes 40 privately, so only her public answer changed while the group was present.
- This matches compliance, a public-only change that reverses once group pressure is removed.
- Consider why she went along with the group: she does not update her own estimate at all, so she is not treating the group as a source of correct information, which rules out ISI.
- She most likely conformed to avoid seeming out of step with four confident colleagues at a social event, which is normative social influence (NSI), going along to be accepted or to avoid standing out.
- State the final answer: Priya shows compliance, driven by normative social influence.
Practice questions
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Q1What is the key difference between compliance and internalisation?Show answer
Answer: Compliance is a temporary, public-only change that reverses once group pressure is removed; internalisation is a genuine, permanent change to private belief as well as public behaviour.
Q2Which explanation for conformity involves wanting to be liked or accepted by a group?Show answer
Answer: Normative social influence (NSI).
Q3In Asch's study, what did the confederates do on critical trials?Show answer
Answer: They unanimously gave the same, obviously incorrect answer.
Q4According to Asch's research, what happened to conformity when one confederate broke unanimity by giving a different answer?Show answer
Answer: Conformity fell sharply.
Q5What was the planned duration of Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment, and how long did it actually run?Show answer
Answer: It was planned to run for two weeks but was stopped after six days.
Q6In Asch's control condition, where participants judged the lines with no confederates present, roughly what proportion of responses were incorrect?Show answer
Answer: Fewer than 1 percent of responses were incorrect.
Exam-style questions
Written in the style of a A Level Psychology exam paper, with a full mark scheme.
A group of five friends are choosing a restaurant for a birthday meal. Four of them, who know the area well, confidently suggest an Italian restaurant. The fifth friend, Leo, does not know the area and is unsure which restaurant would be best. He goes along with the Italian suggestion, and later admits he thinks it was probably a good choice. Identify and explain which explanation for conformity best accounts for Leo's behaviour.
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Perrin and Spencer's (1980) replication of Asch's procedure, using British engineering students, found much lower conformity than Asch's original 1950s study. Explain what this finding suggests about Asch's original conclusions, and give one other limitation of Asch's original sample.
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See real A Level Psychology past-paper questions, with official mark schemes →
Free printable worksheet
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