Instability in self-evaluation, conformity, and affiliation.

The article examines the effects of instability in self-evaluation upon conformity and affiliation. To investigate the effects on conformity and affiliation of perceived inconsistency within one's own level of ability, two degrees of variability in performance, high and low, and three levels of mean performance, high, medium, and low, were manipulated within a factorial design. Conformity was measured in an Asch-type situation, and affiliation was measured by the subject's decision to participate in a future group discussion. Conformity increased significantly due to greater variability in attributed ability, irrespective of the levels of attributed ability. The overall affiliation tendencies also increased, though less significantly, due to greater variability in attributed ability. A significant variability X level interaction in the affiliation data showed that affiliation tendencies decreased for low variability conditions only as the level of attributed ability decreased. Subjects in the high ability and low variability condition in particular showed the maximum tendency to affiliate. The relationships between birth order and dependency with respect to conformity and affiliation were not significant. The results are explained in terms of social comparison theory and attribution theory.