Serena D
Legacy Member
Overview |
| Students will be introduced to the importance of social influence on human behaviour, in relation to conformity. This lesson plan not only introduces the concept of conformity, but equips students with the necessary analytical skills required to be able to evaluate evidence supporting or disproving conformity and be able to critique the social psychology concepts that arise on Paper 2 of their GCSE psychology exam. |
Time |
This lesson is suited to a one period lasting roughly 60 minutes. |
Learning Objectives |
At the end of the lesson, students will be expected to:
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Curriculum links |
GCSE AQA Social Psychology Criteria (UK):
Social context and behaviourCriteria: Identification and explanation of how social factors (group size, anonymity and task difficulty) and dispositional factors (personality, expertise) affect conformity to majority influence. Asch's study of conformity. APA Secondary School Psychology Curriculum (USA): A to C covered in this lesson: a. Explaining the importance of group size as a predictor of conformity b. Discussing why obedience to authority is a common phenomenon c. Citing examples of disobedience to authority d. Analyzing disasters from the perspective of the groupthink hypothesis (e.g., space shuttle disaster, Bay of Pigs) |
Key Vocabulary |
| Conformity; Social Influence; Compliance; Identification; Internalisation |
Procedure |
| Introduction - do all of us conform? (5 minutes) The teacher should start the lesson in a discursive manner, asking students to think about a time when they have felt peer pressure. - Do you think you have ever changed your behaviour to fit in with the group i.e. your friends, work? - Do you think that in some circumstances you may change your behaviour without realising? The teacher can give an example of a time that they felt peer pressure to encourage some students to share a time when they have changed their behaviour / felt pressure to do or think like the majority. Safe examples representing society rules should be encouraged, such as getting students to think about how they wear their uniform, how they dress outside of school, how they eat (with their hands or a knife and fork?), do they queue up when told to? Taught Component 1 (15 minutes, including activity) Attached is a powerpoint introducing conformity and giving examples of conformity. The teacher should either refer to the PowerPoint, or in their own way, explain what is meant by conformity and refer to the three types of conformity as defined by Kellman (1958): Compliance, Identification, Internalisation. Suggested Activity Teacher should go through each picture on the PowerPoint and ask the class which of the three types of conformity each picture is describing. Taught Component 2 (15 minutes) The teacher can refer back to the powerpoint, student textbooks or alternative means to introduce students to the reasons of why people conform. Main reasons to be introduced include:
The attached handout can be given as homework and encourages independent thinking about other social and dispositional factors that can influence conformity. Students should use their textbook and independent internet search to list another four reasons for conformity that will be a mix of both social and dispositional factors. Taught Component 3 (25 minutes including activity) The teacher should allow students to spend 10 minutes reading Asch's (1956) majority influence study from their textbooks. After 10 minutes, the teacher should write key words up on a board and get students to come up and fill in one bullet point each relevant to one of the words on the board. The following words should be used as a guideline:
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