THE LIMITS OF INDIVIDUAL CONFORMITY: A FIELD STUDY.
Item
-
Title
-
THE LIMITS OF INDIVIDUAL CONFORMITY: A FIELD STUDY.
-
Identifier
-
AAI8312335
-
identifier
-
8312335
-
Creator
-
BECK, PEARL.
-
Contributor
-
Edgar Borgatta | Stanley Milgram
-
Date
-
1983
-
Language
-
English
-
Publisher
-
City University of New York.
-
Subject
-
Psychology, Social
-
Abstract
-
This study was undertaken to determine whether those variables associated with non-conformity in a field setting. A Jewish Socialist summer camp was chosen as the setting for the research. The camp conditions resembled those of a natural experiment. It brought together a group of previously unacquainted adolescents for a time-limited period, during which they were subjected to an intensive, structured program aimed at promoting a socialist belief system.;The independent variables hypothesized to relate to non-conformity were consensus, psychological conformity, attraction to the group, and popularity. Consensus was measured by the attitudinal convergence among an individual's referents. Two subsets of referents were distinguished: those with whom the individual had relatively weak ties and those with whom the individual had relatively strong ties.;Non-conformity, the dependent variable, was measured by the discrepancy between an individual's attitude and the mean attitudes of his referents. A camper's level of non-conformity was assessed on three dimensions: social justice, individual justice, and closedmindedness.;Greater non-conformity was predicted where: there existed a high level of attitudinal diversity among an individual's referents, an individual was low on psychological conformity, an individual was low on attraction to the group, and when an individual was popular. It was also hypothesized that the magnitude of influence exerted by the independent variables would be greater for subsets consisting of an individual's close friends than for subsets consisting of an individual's more distant referents.;The results indicate that the process of conformity depends on whether or not the values involved are socially relevant. Socially relevant attitudes were found to be affected by consensus--a social structural variable--whereas the personal attitudes were found to be more affected by psychological conformity--a personality variable. Attraction to the group was only weakly related, while popularity was not at all related, to attitudinal non-conformity. The discussion focused upon circumstances under which each of these processes occurs as well as upon the implications of using various research modalities for studying conformity.
-
Type
-
dissertation
-
Source
-
PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
-
degree
-
Ph.D.
-
Program
-
Psychology
