2 - Conformity: Asch's Research Flashcards
When was Asch’s original study?
1951
What was the aim of Asch’s original study?
To investigate the extent to which individuals conform (to an unambiguous task)
What was the sample of Asch’s original study?
123 American male undergraduates
Outline the procedure for Asch’s original study
- Ppt in group with 6-8 confederates
- Ppt sat in last or penultimate position
- 18 trials: had to choose which of the three comparison lines matched the standard line + say answer out loud
- 12 of the trials were ‘critical’: majority of confederates gave incorrect answer, to see if ppt would conform
What is the ‘Asch effect’?
Conforming in an unambiguous situation
Outline the findings of Asch’s original study
- Naive ppt gave wrong answer (conformed) 32% of times
- 75% of ppts conformed at least once
- Most ppts said they complied due to NSI - but continued to trust themselves privately
What did Asch conclude from his original study?
Individuals do conform, even in unambiguous situations
What is a confederate?
Individual in experiment who is a fake ppt - acting under instructions
What is a naive ppt?
Participant partaking in study, who has no knowledge of study’s true purpose
When did Asch complete the variations of his original study?
Mid-late 1950s
What was the aim of Asch’s variation studies?
To investigate the extent to which changing the characteristics of a situation impacts the extent to which an individual conforms
What were the three variations Asch made to his original study?
- Group size (varied size between 1 and 15)
- Unanimity (added a dissenting confederate - sometimes truthful, sometimes gave a diff incorrect answer)
- Task difficulty (made the task harder by making line lengths more similar)
Outline the results and conclusion of Asch’s group size variation study
- 1 confederate: 3% conformity
- 2 confederates: 13.6% conformity
- 3 confederates: 31.8% conformity
- Any more confederates made little difference
(Conformity increases with size of majority, up to a point: 3)
What did Hogg + Vaughan say (1995)?
The group size that elicits most conformity is 3-5
- Conformity increases up to 3
- Conformity may decrease over 5, if individual suspects collusion
Outline the results and conclusion of Asch’s unanimity variation study
- Dissenter giving incorrect answer: conformity fell to 9%
- Dissenter giving correct answer: conformity fell to 5%
(Conformity is greatest when the group is unanimous, as a dissenter gives the individual confidence to behave independently)
Outline the results and conclusion of Asch’s task difficulty variation study
- Task difficulty increase: rise in conformity
Conformity increases with task difficulty, as ISI is more prevalent in the more ambiguous situation
Give 2 positive evaluation point for Asch’s studies
Methodology increased internal validity
- Unambiguous task, ensured conformity being measured
- Clearly unambiguous as control condition made mistakes less than 1% of times, so ppts’ mistakes were due to conformity
- So the research validly measured conformity
Ethical issues very low
- Naive ppts were deceived (didn’t know about true aim or confederates)
- Example of research in which deception had very low impact on ppts
- Ppts remained safe + benefits of research appear greater than risks
- BUT - Bogdonoff et al (1961) found evidence of autonomic arousal (linked to stress) in similar evidence, so may have caused some harm
Give 2 negative evaluation points for Asch’s studies
Methodology lacked mundane realism, reducing generalisability
- Situation + task were trivial and artificial
- Hard to generalise findings + say ppts would act the same in an everyday situation with real implications
Sample lacked temporal + population validity
- Temporal: in 1950s USA (conformist time)
- Population: American - Smith + Bond (1998) said collectivist cultures will conform more
Men - Neto (1995) said women conform more
- So results may not be generalisable to how the whole world would act today
