Quantifying compliance and acceptance through public and private social conformity

Sophie Sowden*, Sofia Koletsi, Eva Lymberopoulos, Elisabeta Militaru, Caroline Catmur, Geoffrey Bird

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

11 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Social conformity is a class of social influence whereby exposure to the attitudes and beliefs of a group causes an individual to alter their own attitudes and beliefs towards those of the group. Compliance and acceptance are varieties of social influence distinguished on the basis of the attitude change brought about. Compliance involves public, but not private conformity, while acceptance occurs when group norms are internalised and conformity is demonstrated both in public and in private. Most contemporary paradigms measuring conformity conflate compliance and acceptance, while the few studies to have addressed this issue have done so using between-subjects designs, decreasing their sensitivity. Here we present a novel task which measures compliance and acceptance on a within-subjects basis. Data from a small sample reveal that compliance and acceptance can co-occur, that compliance is increased with an increasing majority, and demonstrate the usefulness of the task for future studies of conformity.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)359-367
Number of pages9
JournalConsciousness and Cognition
Volume65
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2018

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank Jennifer Cook for her involvement in the initial idea for this study. Sophie Sowden was supported by a doctoral studentship from the Medical Research Council , which provided the funds for participant payments in this study.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 The Authors

Keywords

  • Acceptance
  • Compliance
  • Informational influence
  • Normative influence
  • Social conformity

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
  • Developmental and Educational Psychology

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