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1.) Social Impact Theory.
Latane's Social Impact Theory posits that three factors influence the extent to which we conform to group norms: personal importance, immediacy, and size. As the group becomes more important to a person, physically closer to him/her, and larger in number, Social Impact Theory predicts that conformity to group norms will increase. However, the size of the group only affects conformity to an extent-- as a group expands past 3-5 members, the effect levels off.

2.) Unanimity. When a group is unanimous in its support of a norm, an individual feels greater pressure to follow suit. However, even a small break in unanimity can lead to decrease in the power of such normative influence. In Asch's study, when even one other confederate dissented from the majority and provided the correct answer, the participant answered incorrectly on fewer trials (about a fourth less). In addition, participants experienced positive emotions towards such dissenters. A similar reduction in conformity even occurred when the dissenting confederate provided an answer that was false (but still different from that of the majority).

Interestingly, in some versions of the experiment, Asch had dissenting confederates eventually rejoin the majority opinion after several trials; when this occurred, participants experienced greater pressure from normative influence and conformed as if they had never had the dissenter on their side. However, when the conditions were altered and the dissenting confederate left the room after several trials, the participants did not experience a similar pressure to conform as they had when the confederate rejoined the majority-- they made less mistakes than they had in the condition where the confederate rejoined the others.

3.) Private vs. Public. When actions are done in public, the pressure to bend to normative influence increases. When actions are performed in private, individuals do not feel as strong a need to conform to others' opinions or norms. In another variation of the Asch study, the researchers allowed the participant to privately write down his answer after all of the confederates had publicly stated theirs; this variation reduced the level of conformity among participants. In addition, the control condition of the Asch study revealed that participants were almost perfectly accurate when answering independently.

4.) Minority Influence. It is possible for a vocal minority to stem the normative influence of a larger majority. In the versions of the Asch study where a dissenter was inserted into the group (see Unanimity section), his presence as a minority member gave the participant the confidence to exert his independence to a greater extent. However, as soon as the dissenter waffled on his opinions and rejoined the majority, participant conformity increased; thus, a minority needs to consistently stand by its beliefs in order to be truly effective.

In addition, there are other factors that increase the power of the minority: when the majority is forced to think about the beliefs and perspective of the minority, when the majority and minority are similar to one another, and when the minority exhibits some willingness to compromise and be flexible, although there is debate over the degree to which consistency and compromise should be balanced.

It is often the case that whereas a majority influences public compliance with a norm, a minority can engender private acceptance of a new norm, with the end result often being conversion (public and private acceptance of a norm).

4.) Cultural Differences. There is a distinction between individualistic (e.g., United States) and collectivistic (e.g., Japan) cultures. While some would predict that collectivistic cultures would exhibit stronger conformity under normative social influence, this is not necessarily the case-- the identity of the group acts as a moderator. Because collectivists emphasize the importance of in-group members (e.g., family and friends), normative pressure from in-groups can lead to higher conformity than would pressure from out-group members (e.g., strangers).

5.) Gender Differences. Many have long wondered whether there is a gender gap in conformity under normative influence, with women possibly conforming more than men. A meta-analysis by Eagly and Carli (1981) shows this gap to be small, and driven by public vs. private situations. Women do conform (slightly) more under normative influence than do men when in public situations, but this effect is questionable under private situations. Interestingly, male researchers reported higher levels of conformity among female participants than did female researchers; Eagly and Carli speculate that each gender could be implicitly biased towards portraying itself in a positive light, thus leading to actions (e.g., setting up experimental conditions under which males or females may be more comfortable) that might favor one gender over the other.

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