Factors affecting conformity and minority influence

Personality

• Locus of control: people with an internal locus conform less. Spector (1983) gave 157 students Rotter's scale and a questionnaire on conformity tendencies: locus of control was linked to normative tendencies (externals more normative) but not to informational tendencies.
• Low self-esteem and high anxiety are linked to more conformity; expertise and intelligence to less.
• For minority influence, people who identify with the minority (for example, share its gender or group) are more open to it.

Situation

Majority influence (Asch's variations): group size (up to about three), unanimity (one ally cuts conformity sharply), task difficulty (harder raises it) and privacy (written answers lower it).

Minority influence: consistency of the message (Hogg and Vaughan, 1995), flexibility versus rigidity, and whether the minority is an in-group (seen as like us) or an out-group. Maass, Clark and Haberkorn (1982) found a minority arguing for its own interests was less persuasive than one with nothing to gain.

Culture

Individualist cultures (for example the USA, UK) value independence; collectivist cultures (for example many in Asia, Africa and the Pacific) value group harmony.

Bond and Smith (1996) analysed 133 Asch-type studies from 17 countries: conformity was higher in collectivist cultures, and in the USA it declined over time. Smith and Bond (1993) is the reference Pearson's guide gives for individualist versus collectivist differences.

Caution: collectivists may conform more to their in-group but not to strangers; Asch-type tasks with strangers may not show this.

Worked example

Explain why a student in a collectivist culture might conform more than a student in an individualist culture in an Asch-type task.

1. Collectivist cultures value group harmony and fitting in.
2. So normative pressure to agree is stronger.
3. Bond and Smith (1996) found higher conformity in collectivist countries across 133 studies.

Answer: Group harmony is valued more, so normative influence is stronger; Bond and Smith (1996) found higher conformity in collectivist cultures.

Check yourself

1. Spector (1983) found that locus of control was linked to one type of conformity tendency but not the other. Which type was it linked to?
   • Informational social influence
   • Minority influence
   • Obedience to authority
   • Normative social influence
   Show answer

   Normative social influence. Externals reported more normative tendencies (conforming to be accepted); there was no link with informational tendencies.

2. What did Bond and Smith (1996) find?
   • Conformity was the same in every culture
   • Conformity was higher in collectivist cultures than individualist cultures
   • Conformity was higher in individualist cultures
   • Conformity had increased in the USA since the 1950s
   Show answer

   Conformity was higher in collectivist cultures than individualist cultures. Collectivism predicted larger conformity effects; US conformity fell over time.

3. Bond and Smith analysed 133 studies from 17 countries. On average, how many studies is that per country? Give your answer to 1 decimal place.
   Show answer

   7.8 studies. 133 / 17 = 7.8.

4. A minority is more likely to influence a majority when it is seen as
   • part of the majority's in-group
   • self-interested
   • rigid and dogmatic
   • inconsistent
   Show answer

   part of the majority's in-group. People are more open to those they see as similar to themselves.

5. Which change to Asch's procedure reduced conformity?
   • Making the lines more similar
   • Increasing the majority from two to three
   • Letting the participant write answers privately
   • Making all confederates unanimous
   Show answer

   Letting the participant write answers privately. Without public exposure there is less normative pressure.

6. Explain why a minority arguing for something that benefits only itself may be less persuasive.
   Show answer

   The majority may see the minority as self-interested and biased rather than objective, so its arguments are dismissed and do not cause the majority to rethink.. Perceived objectivity is part of behavioural style; self-interest undermines it.

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Sources

• Pearson Edexcel International Advanced Subsidiary/Advanced Level in Psychology specification (issue January 2026)
• Pearson International A Level Psychology component guide: WPS01
• Spector (1983) Locus of control and social influence susceptibility (abstract), Journal of Psychology 115
• Simply Psychology: What is conformity?
• Summary of Bond and Smith (1996) cross-cultural Asch meta-analysis
• Simply Psychology: Moscovici and minority influence
• IAL Psychology revision site: Factors affecting conformity

Last updated 8 November 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.