Asch’s Conformity Research

Question 1

Aim

Answer 1

To investigate the effects of a majority opinion on individual’s judgements

Question 2

Method

Answer 2

Lab experiment

Question 3

Sample

Answer 3

123 American male students

Question 4

Procedure

Answer 4

• participants were individually placed into groups with 7-9 confederates.
• they were shown two large white cards at a time on one card was a standard line x and the other card were three comparison line ABC
• one of the comparison lines was the same length as the standard line and the other two were substantially different
• participants were asked to say which line ABC was the same length as standard line x participants were always last or second to last to answer
• on 12/18 trial the confederates gave identical wrong answers
• a control group of 36 participants were individually tested without confederates

Question 5

Findings

Answer 5

On average the real participants have a wrong answer 37% or the time when a confederate was present

Question 6

Post experiment interviews

Answer 6

Found that the majority of participants conformed publicly during the experiment but not privately as they wanted to avoid ridicule

Question 7

Conclusion

Answer 7

This supports NSI as participants conformed publicly but not privately in order to be accepted by the group

Question 8

Variables affecting conformity

Answer 8

Asch carried out several variations of his original conformity study to find out which variable had a significant effect on the level of conformity

Question 9

Variable 1 - Group size ( number of confederates)

Answer 9

conformity rates increase as the size of a majority group increases. However the size of the group stops having an effect on conformity once the group reaches a certain size.

• when there was one real participant and one confederate conformity was 3%
• when there were two confederates and one real participant conformity increased to 13%
• When there were three confederates and one real participant conformity increased to 32%
  -however conformity plateaued after this
• suggesting that the size of the majority does have an effect on conformity but only to a point

Question 10

Variable 2 - Unanimity ( everyone agreeing to something)

Answer 10

unanimity means complete agreement from a group of people about an answer or viewpoint.

• in the original Asch study the confederates all gave the same wrong answer and conformity was 37%
• However when Asch varied his study and had one confederate give the correct answers throughout the research conformity dropped to 5.5%
• Asch then researched whether a lone confederate who gave an answer that was both different from the majority and different to the correct answer. in this variation it was found that conformity dropped to 9%
• Asch co0ncluded that when a dissenter breaks the groups unanimous position conformity decreases

Question 11

Variable 3 - Task difficulty ( closer in length )

Answer 11

conformity increases when the difficulty of the task increases

• in one variation of Asch’s research he made the stimulus line and the comparison li8ne closer in length so that the correct answer was less obvious and therefore the task was harder. When the difficulty of the task increased conformity rates increased.
• this suggests that ISI plays a greater role when the task become harder . when situations are unclear we are most likely to look for others for guidance
• As the right answer becomes less obvious we lose confidence in our own ability and are more likely to conform.

Question 12

A03

Answer 12

P- research to support the variables affecting conformity was conducted by Lucas et al.

E- He asked students to solve easy and hard math’s problems. participants who were given three other answers from other students.

E- The participants conformed more often when the problems were difficult rather than easy.

L- Therefore supporting Asch research into variables affecting conformity because it suggests that when the takes is harder conformity increases.

Question 13

A03

Answer 13

P - however Lucas et al’s study found that conformity is more complex than Asch suggested

E- ppts with high confidence in their maths abilities conformed less on the hard maths problems than those with low confidence.

E- this shows that an individual level factor can influence conformity and interact with situational variables.

L- limiting asch’s research into variables affecting conformity as he did not research the roles of individual factors.