Some Determinants of Affiliation and Conformity

Abstract

This study tested 5 sets of hypotheses relating to affiliative and conformity behaviors. In two investigations, all measures obtained from the college undergraduate Ss were based on verbal questionnaires, and multiple regression analyses were used to test the hypotheses. For moderately familiar targets, whose status or attitudes only were known, affiliative behavior correlated with a personality measure of affiliative tendency, and conformity behavior correlated with sensitivity to rejection. Attitude discrepancy, and to a lesser extent status discrepancy, implied less reinforcing quality of an unfamiliar target, and therefore less desire to affiliate with or conform to him. Further, increasing attitude discrepancy with a target was a greater deterrent of affiliation for those who were more sensitive to rejection. Due to the positive connotations of higher status, among targets of equally discrepant status, those who were of higher status elicited more affiliation and conformity than those who were lower in status. Dependency and affiliative tendency both correlated with the increase in desire to affiliate when fearful. There were no such correlations when anticipating more positive experiences. Among familiar targets of the second experiment, the positively reinforcing ones were liked more and the negatively reinforcing ones were liked less. Positively reinforcing persons elicited more affiliation and conformity, but conformity was also a function of status.