AQA Syllabus focus:
'Types of conformity, including internalisation and compliance, and how these forms of social influence affect behaviour.'
Conformity does not always involve the same level of acceptance. People may genuinely adopt a group’s view or merely go along with it, and these two patterns produce very different kinds of behavior.
Understanding conformity
Conformity refers to changing in response to a group. The important distinction is between a change that affects only public behavior and a change that also alters private beliefs.
Conformity: A change in behavior and/or belief as a result of real or imagined group pressure.
This distinction matters because two people may look equally conforming from the outside, even though one truly agrees and the other is only acting as if they agree.
Psychologists therefore separate conformity into different types, based on how deep the change is and whether it lasts once the group is no longer present.
Internalisation
Internalisation is the deepest type of conformity because the person accepts the group’s view as correct and meaningful.
Internalisation: A type of conformity in which a person publicly changes behavior and privately accepts the group’s view as their own.
When internalisation happens, the individual does not just copy the group. They actually incorporate the new idea, value, or behavior into their own thinking. This means the conformity is both public and private.
Key features of internalisation include:
the person comes to believe the group is right
the change is often long-lasting
the behavior may continue even when the group is absent
the new response becomes part of the person’s own attitudes or judgment
Because the belief itself has changed, internalisation usually leads to the most durable effect on behavior. The person is not simply performing for others. Instead, they behave consistently because they now see the response as correct, sensible, or desirable.
This type of conformity can affect behavior broadly. If a belief is truly accepted, it may shape choices across different situations rather than only in the original group setting. The individual is also more likely to repeat the behavior later because it now feels personally valid.
For AQA, the core idea is that internalisation involves genuine acceptance.
The group’s influence has moved from the outside to the inside of the person’s thinking.
Compliance
By contrast, compliance is a more superficial type of conformity. The person appears to agree with the group, but this agreement is only outward.
Compliance: A type of conformity in which a person publicly changes behavior but privately does not accept the group’s view.
In compliance, behavior changes, but belief does not. The individual may say the same thing as the group, copy what others do, or follow the group line in public, while still thinking differently in private.
Important features of compliance include:
the change is limited mainly to public behavior
private beliefs stay the same
the effect is often temporary
the person is likely to stop conforming when group pressure is removed
This means compliance affects what people do or say in the moment, especially when they are being observed or judged. However, because the person has not genuinely accepted the view, the behavior is fragile. Once the social situation changes, the conforming response may disappear.
Compliance can therefore produce a misleading impression of agreement. A group may seem united, but some members may only be going along with the majority on the surface. Their outward behavior reflects the pressure of the situation rather than a real change in attitudes.
For AQA, the essential point is that compliance involves surface-level agreement without private acceptance.
How internalisation and compliance affect behavior
The specification emphasizes how these forms of social influence affect behavior. The main difference is the depth and stability of the behavioral change.
With internalisation:
behavior is supported by real belief
the change often continues over time
the person may behave the same way even in private
the influence can spread to similar situations
With compliance:
behavior is mainly a response to the immediate social setting
the change is often short-term
the person may return to their original behavior when alone
the effect is usually narrower and more situation-specific
A crucial exam point is that both types can produce the same visible response at first. Someone who has internalized a belief and someone who is merely complying may both agree publicly. The difference lies beneath the surface: internalisation changes belief and behavior, whereas compliance changes behavior alone.
This is why psychologists pay close attention to whether conformity lasts and whether it remains when social pressure is gone. Lasting, consistent behavior suggests deeper acceptance, while short-lived public agreement suggests compliance.
Practice Questions
Outline what is meant by compliance as a type of conformity. (2 marks)
1 mark for stating that the person changes their public behavior or outward response.
1 mark for stating that the person does not privately accept the group’s view.
Accept related wording such as “surface agreement only” or “temporary conformity.”
Explain the difference between internalisation and compliance as types of conformity. Refer to how each affects behavior. (6 marks)
1 mark for stating that internalisation involves private acceptance of the group’s view.
1 mark for explaining that internalisation usually leads to long-lasting behavior.
1 mark for stating that internalisation may continue when the group is absent.
1 mark for stating that compliance involves public agreement only.
1 mark for explaining that in compliance the person’s private beliefs remain unchanged.
1 mark for explaining that compliance is often temporary and may stop when social pressure is removed.
FAQ
Yes, sometimes it can.
A person may begin by going along with a group only in public, but repeated exposure to the group’s view can lead them to think about it more seriously. If they eventually judge the view to be correct or worthwhile, the change can become genuine.
However, this does not always happen. Some people continue to comply for practical or social reasons while privately disagreeing the whole time.
Internalisation is harder to reverse because it changes more than outward behavior. It becomes tied to the person’s own beliefs, judgments, and sometimes identity.
To reverse it, the person often needs:
strong contradictory information
a new perspective they trust
time to rethink what they now believe
Compliance is easier to reverse because it depends mainly on the situation. Once the pressure is gone, the behavior often disappears quickly.
A single public response is not enough, because both compliance and internalisation can look the same at first.
Psychologists often look for signs such as:
whether the person gives the same answer in private
whether the behavior continues later
whether the response stays consistent across different settings
whether the person defends the belief as their own
Private and delayed measures are especially useful because they reduce the effect of immediate social pressure.
Yes. Social influence does not have to affect every belief in the same way.
A person might genuinely accept one part of a group’s outlook because it fits their own thinking, while only outwardly following another part to avoid conflict or stand out less. This means conformity can be selective rather than all-or-nothing.
That is why psychologists are careful not to assume that all agreement within a group reflects the same depth of acceptance.
In public, people often give clear outward signals of agreement, such as repeating the same answer, following the same rule, or matching the group’s behavior. Observers usually see only this visible response.
What they do not immediately see is whether the person:
truly believes it
feels doubtful
plans to behave differently later in private
Because the outward behavior can be identical, public settings can make compliance look like internalisation even when no real belief change has happened.
