... at a display they were given the task of saying out loud which one of the three lines a, b or c was the same the same length as the given stimulus line all but one of the participants were confederates. On the crucial trials on which the confederates all gave the same wrong answer the genuine participant also gave the wrong answer on 37% of these trials. This showed that group pressures to conform were stronger then previously thought since the situation was unambiguous. This led to Deutsh and Gerard (1955) to identify two explanations for conformity, Normative and Informational influence. The latter occurs when an individual conforms because of the superior knowledge or judgement of others as in Sherif's (1935) study of conformity. Informational influence tends to lead to a change in private opinion. Normative influence occurs when an individual conforms because the person wants to be liked ...

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