Asch (1951)

Question 1

What was the aim of Asch (1951)?

Answer 1

To see if people will conform to group pressure when they do know the correct answer

Question 2

What was Asch (1951) method?

Answer 2

• He got 123 participants in a room to do an ‘eye test’ in groups of 5-8
• They judged the length of a line but the rest of the group were actors who would say the wrong answer, the real participants would go last to see if they’d conform
• He also got a control group of 36 participants who were tested individually to examine how accurate individual judgements were

Question 3

What were the results of Asch (1951)’s study?

Answer 3

• The control group had an error rate of 0.04%

- Conformity happened 1/3 pf the time, 75% of participants conformed at least once