Conformity Case Essay

INTRODUCTION Ever since the send-off investigate on adaptity was conducted by Jenness in 1932, psychologists lease try to mea genuine conformity under various concomitants. Historic entirelyy, conformity has been calculated in numerous ways, though the most widely utilize manners make up been behavioral utterances and self reports (Scher and Thompson, 2007). While Aschs Experiment (1951) remains the most popular work on conformity, Zimbardo (1971) and Milgrams (1974) work ar n singleworthy. AIM AND HYPOTHESIS We precious to recoup come in whether undergraduate students conform to social norms or non? Also, what are the presumable reasons for their demeanor? For this, we created our own try. However, let us jell conformity and other key variables first. Kalat (2008) defines conformity as changing ones conduct to match other peoples behaviour or expectations. It is the dependant variable (DV) in our experiment and we gave it an operational definition.We measur ed DV by the subjects correct gender identification and succeeding action of base on balls through the opening as signalinged for their respective gender. This is gain elaborated under the Research Method section. The independent variable (IV) in our experiment was self- watch stance. We chose IV as our multitude retrieved that it is primarily in high spirits self-monitoring people are more(prenominal) conscious ab bulge out their social image and are thus more presumable to conform in general than low-self monitoring people and vice versa. The operational definition for self monitoring carriage was the score on Self-Monitoring (SM) surpass created by Mark Synder in the archaeozoic 1970s. Frayer believes that the personality test measures how much an individual would stir his behaviour to cause situational cues. It has 25 questions in total and has been attached in APPENDIX 1 for your reference. The results were interpreted as high, intermediate or low score depend ing on how many questions the subject got correct exploitation the answer key provided by lckes and Barnes (1977) attached in APPENDIX 2 for your reference.Our goal was to examine in that locationlationship amid self-monitoring attitude (IV) and conformity (DV). We expected a dictatorial co-relation due to our chemical group belief mentioned above. Besides, Scher and Thompsons (2007) experiment, which was our inspiration, had found a significant lordly correlational statistics relationship amongst self-monitoring and behavioural conformity. Our target population was the undergraduate students at The University of Hong Kong (HKU). However, our exemplification consisted of barely forty HKU students composing of twenty female and twenty male students. RESEARCH METHOD Let us elaborate on how we went about conducting our experiment. Firstly, we chose to conduct the experiment at chi Wah composite expression since many undergraduate students go there to study. Secondly, we r eplicated Sarah Lisbene experiment on gender conformity. Lisbene had pasted gender signs on an entrance of a building to observe whether people would conform to the gender attributes on the entres.We duplicated her gender conformity situation at the main entrance on the first floor of Chi Wah as it has precisely two ingresss. We stuck gender symbols on each doorway at the eye level right besides the door handles a male only sign on right door and a female only sign on the left hand door. Then, we shut two the doors at the entrance. Anyone who wanted to enter the building from this entrance was bound to enounce the gender sign before opening the door and thus would have to make a decision to conform, observable by his/her action of walking through the appropriate gender-marked door. Thirdly, we used simple systematic sampling method to choose our subjects. Every tenth person was invited to participate in our experiment by gourmandizeing in a two paged survey. The survey was really the SM Scale mentioned in AIM AND HYPOTHESIS section. We calculated their wads on the SM Scale by their marked responses to measure the IV and its relationship with DV.Lastly, we tried to observe participants in their natural setting. To remain unnoticeable, we dolled up up in casuals and stood far away from the entrance, trying to avoid expectant any additional situational cues to the participants. We wanted to prevent any bias adversely affecting our study and studiously observed the behaviour of the subjects reading the signs, record their decision of walking through each door and thence approached them, requesting to fill in the survey. RESULTS AND ANALYSIS though the response and the reactions from the subjects varied, a common effort in our experiment emerged. The participant would read the sign on the door when he/she approached to open the door and get confused. Then, he/she would take a step back and try to locate the other gender sign on the other door and f inding one would relieve him/her and change their emotion. Then they would make a decision to walk through either door. The mean score on the SM scale was 12.1, an Intermediate draw as it falls in the band width of 9-14. It suggests that HKU undergraduates self-monitor themselves to a guide degree on average and would be conscious of their social image. Our guess would suggest that undergraduates are likely to conform to their respective gender roles.The statistics obtained from our sample were consistent with our expectations in general. In fact, 28 out of the 40 or 70% participants conformed to their respective gender role. We found a modest positive co-relation of .4049 between SM Scale and conformity. It suggests that self-monitoring attitude whitethorn lead to gender conformity. We observed two major group differences based on the info collected. The first group was divided on basis of gender bandage the second on their score on SM Scale. Firstly, the SM arrive at mean f or females was slightly higher (12.2) than for men (12). The standard deviation for females (3.578) was set out compared to men (4.193) and the range for females was 4-21 and 3-18 for men. The data and statistics obtained are indicative of females conformist marginally more than males. Out of the 28 subjects that did conform, 16 or 57.1% were females and only 12 or 42.9% were males.Secondly, a score of 15-22 is high and 0-8 is low on the SM scale. Out of the 7 subjects who scored low on SM scale, only 3 or 42.9% conformed. Out of the 23 subjects who scored intermediate on SM scale, only 16 or 69.6% conformed and out of the 10 subjects who scored high on SM Scale, 9 or 90% conformed. This suggest that people who score high on the SM Scale are more likely to conform than people who score put down on the SM Scale. A trine group difference, which is based on our observation of arrival of participant in a companionship or not can be suggested. In a group of two females and three male s, a male pointed out the discrepancy at the entrance which surprised the whole group. They talked among themselves and even had a laugh, pointing at the symbols. Nonetheless, the group split up and members walked through respective doors and then rejoined once inside the building. This may suggests that people are more likely to conform if they arrive in a party consisting of both the genders. demonstrationFrom our data and observations in the experiment, we can make a few conclusions. Firstly, though HKU undergraduates are likely to conform to gender roles, females are more likely to do so. Secondly, there is a modest correlation between self-monitoring attitude and conformity, though we could not establish a direct causal relationship between the two variables. Thirdly, it seems that people who are scored higher on the SM Scale are more likely to conform to gender roles than those who scored lower on the SM Scale. Lastly, subjects are more likely to conform to gender roles when they arrive in a party consisting of both the genders. CRITICAL evaluation Booker (2012) says that behavioural conformity is linked with youth happiness. Conforming behaviour enables us to create a strong social world and screw belongingness to a group, thereby facilitating social identification and security, leading to equilibrium of contentment. This suggests the sizeableness of conforming in order to achieve happiness. Secondly, conforming behaviour is truly a self-defining act and people conform to keep their state of rest (Santee and Jackson, 1982). This too may explain why people conform in general.Furthermore, there is a difference in the view of conformity between both the genders men dissemble non-conforming behaviour as self-image enhancing while women regard conformity as positive and self defining. This helps explain why women are more likely than men to conform. Another plausible news report for gender differences in conformity is assumption by Maslach, Santee and Wade (1987), who believe conformity is based on personality traits of men and women. Men are so-called to be assertive and independent while women are supposed to be sensitive. Recently, researchers from University of London (2011) have even found a mild genetic influence explaining gender conforming traits (31%) in women. agree to Fraser, most people would like to maintain a positive habitual image and are perceptive to what people think about them. This may explain why high self-monitors who actively apply impression anxiety are more likely to conform than low self-monitors. The fear of distorting their domain image or even dampening their social popularity would be a powerful incentive for high self monitors to conform.Lastly, individuals composing a group face a stronger effect of normative social influence than a collection of individuals who do not form a group (Deutsch and Gerard, 1954). This may explain why the conformity increases when subjects arrive in a party co nsisting of both genders. I would now like to talk about emf flaws in our experiment and some methods to improve our model. Firstly, conformity is not on the whole dependent on a single variable and we should have used a multi-variable regression model to estimate it instead. In our experiment, one of the omitted variables is wishing of social pressure or incentive to conform. The subjects may not have sufficient incentive to walk through their gender assigned door as there was no reward or penalty in terms of social acceptance or rejection.Also, as many as 9 subjects reported that they did not notice any gender symbol and walked in using random door. None of them was suffering from any visual perception problem like colour blindness. Furthermore, Livingstone brings to light a potential conflicting variable civility. Civility primarily depends on disposition of the subject, which in disco biscuit depends on parenting, school education and cultural background. We could have inc luded all these variables in our model. Another potential flaw in experiment is not having a control group. Maybe the female lavatory near the left door favoured the female participants to walk through the left door, increasing their conforming number. Either a control group or interchanging the symbols on the doors aft(prenominal) the first 20 subjects had filled in the survey would have take away this bias. To improve our model, we could have used better operational definitions too. The SM Scale is controversial and walking through a door marked by a sign may not be a germane(predicate) gender issue. Secondly, we could have used a larger budget and more time to improve our model. For instance, it took us four days to get allowance to conduct the experiment at Chi Wah.If we had more time, we would have conducted the experiment in the Main Library and Medical Campus to get a part sample. Increasing our sample size would have enabled us to detect micro trends and be more accurat e. We could have offered subjects who refused to fill in the survey monetary compensation. Our study may have been subject to experimenter bias in suffer our full effort to minimise the bias as we were expecting a positive correlation. Blinding was too expensive an option for us. PERSONAL REFLECTION Though this experiment answered some questions, it has left me wondering about many more. If given the opportunity, I would like to conduct a few follow up experiments to seek some answers. Firstly, I would like to find out if there is any link between stress levels and gender conformity.This relationship arises from my observation that some subjects in our experiment who walked through the wrong door and in any case refused to fill in the survey seemed to be impatient and rude. Though there may be some other reasons behind their gender non-conformity behaviour and mood like being short on time, we cannot say for sure and will have to find out for ourselves. Also, I would like to find out if there is any verge level for conformity? For instance, participants may refuse to conform by walking through a door in our experiment but they would probably conform while using a lavatory. If non-conformers conform if they know they would be severely rebuked for their actions, what precisely is that threshold level? The experiment also cleared my misconceptions of conducting experiments.I thought that it would be very easy to design and conduct an experiment. However, given our goal, there were so many ways of going about it that was very hard to engage the best method given our resources and time constraint. Carrying out the experiment has its own fair share of struggles. I would also like to mention my start out with experimenter bias. While drafting the experiment, I was very confident that I could not be susceptible to experimenter bias. However, when we started the experiment, it was very hard not to hand out the survey to our friends and acquaintances who happened t o come in through the doors but were not the 10th subject as per our systematic sampling rule. Finally, after having finished the experiment, I think it was painstakingly work involving a lot of planning and careful evaluation. Nonetheless, I had fun conducting the experiment.REFERENCES1. Scher, N., & Thompson, T. (2007). Self-Monitoring and Conformity A Comparison of Self-Report and Behavioral Measures. UW-L ledger of Undergraduate Research X (2007) Retrieved celestial latitude 1, 2012, from http//www.uwlax.edu/urc/jur-online/PDF/2007/scher&thompson.pdf2. Kalat, James W. (2008). Introduction to Psychology, ordinal (International) Edition. Wadsworth Wadsworth Cengage Learning.3. Fraser, M. Mhaire. Self Monitoring Notes and Resources. Retrieved December 2, 2012, from De Anza College Website http//faculty.deanza.edu/frasermary/stories/storyReader$1574. Montclair SocioBlog. Livingston, J. (2009). Civility or Mindless residency? Retrieved December 2, 2012, fromhttp//montclairsoci.blo gspot.hk/2009/07/civility-or-mindless-compliance.html5. Booker, Karene. (2012). Youths well-being linked to how well they conform to gender norms Retrieved December 4, 2012, fromhttp//www.gradschool.cornell.edu/news/youths-well-being-linked-how-well-they-conform-gender-norms6. Santee, R.T., & Jackson, S.E. (1882). Identity Implications of Conformity Sex Differences in Normative and Attributional Judgements. brotherly Psychology Quarterly, 45(2), 121-125. Retrieved from December 7, 2012, http//faculty.rhodes.edu/wetzel/223webproj/conformity%20and%20gender/7. Maslach, C., Santee, R. T., & Wade, C. (1987). Individuation, Gender Role, and Dissent Personality Mediators of Situational Forces. ledger of Personality and Social Psychology, 53(6), 1088-1093. Retrieved December 7, 2012,from http//faculty.rhodes.edu/wetzel/223webproj/conformity%20and%20gender/8. Science Daily. Jul 9, 2011. Sexual preference and Gender Conforming Traits in Women Are Genetic, Study Finds Retrieved December 9, 2012, from http//www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/07/110707173319.htm9. Morton, Deutsch and Gerard, B. Harold. (1954). A Study of Normative and Informational Social Influences upon Individual Judgement. Research Center for homosexual Relations, New York University Retrieved December 10, 2012, from http//web.comhem.se/u68426711/8/deutsch55.pdf