Gender Differences In Conformity example essay topic

The general psychological subject area of this study is social influence. This can be defined as "the process by which an individual's attitudes, beliefs or behaviours are modified by the presence or actions of others" (Saks & Krupa t 1988). There are several types of social influence but this piece of research will be investigating conformity in particular and, more specifically, gender. Conformity is referred to as "a change in behaviour or belief as a result of real or imagined group pressure" (David Myers 1999). Research into conformity dates as far back as 350 B.C. with Aristotle's writings on social influences and persuasion. However, experimental studies did not begin until the twentieth century with Floyd Allport (1924).

Participants were required to judge the pleasantness of a set of odours, alone and then in small groups. Allport found that their judgements after the group discussion, approached the mean of their group and concluded that they conformed in attempt to be accepted by the others. A study similar to that of Allport's and the basis for this research is that of Jenness' (1932). Individual students were asked to estimate the number of beans in a bottle and then later placed in groups to discuss and come to a group conclusion. Jenness observed that when asked for a second judgement, participants made a distinct shift towards the group estimate.

Psychologists also believe that individual differences may play a role in conformity. Crutchfield's (1955) study consisted of participants drawn mainly from the business sector and the military. They were tested for several qualities, some of which included intelligence, leadership ability and ego strength. He found that those who had scored highly in these, displayed lower levels of conformity. Crutchfield's findings, therefore, seem to suggest that there is a conforming type of personality but there has been no substantial evidence to support this theory. A meta-analysis of past studies into conformity carried out by Eagly & Carli (1981) showed that women conformed more than men.

It was suggested that these gender differences in conformity may have been as a result of typical social roles. Men are generally perceived to occupy positions of higher status and power and hence tend to be more exerting whereas women are seen to be more accepting (Eagly & Wood 1985). However, later research by Eagly (1987) did not reflect similar findings to past experiments but rather seemed to show that there was in fact little significant difference in the rates of conformity in either gender. Researcher bias may have been introduced here due to the occurence of expectation effects whereby the researcher (female) is deeply committed to acheiving a particular outcome and so could have affected the data by perhaps unconsciously leaving cues, thereby leading to extraneous variables. However, Eagly (1987) discusses this sex of researchers' effect and concludes that it is not a robust one.

AIM The aim of this work is to test if women show higher rates of conformity than men. EXPERIMENTAL HYPOTHESIS.