Asch's key study Flashcards
What was the aim of Asch’s study?
To examine the extent to which social pressure to conform to a UNANIMOUS majority affects conformity in an UNAMBIGUOUS situation
How many real participants took part?
123 US male undergraduate students
What were they deceived into thinking this test was about?
Vision Test
What test did he make them do?
Line judgement tasks
How did he do it?
1) Placed 1 real participant into a room with 6-8 confederates
-Seated 2nd to last
2) They had to say out loud which line they thought was most like the target line
-The answer was always obvious
Each participant had 18 trials
Confederates gave same wrong answer on 12 trials called CRITICAL TRIALS
Was the target line always obvious?
Yes
How many trial did each participant have?
18
How many trials did the confederates purposely give the wrong answer?
12
The 12 trials were called…..
Critical trials
How many confederates were there in a room with the real participant?
6-8
What were the results?
- real participants conformed 32% in the critical trials
- 74% conformed at least in one critical trial
- 26% never conformed
- 1% told wrong in controlled conditions
What were the conditions in the controlled conditions?
The real participant by themselves in a room without the confederates
What was the conclusion?
Asch interviewed his participants after the experiment to find out why they conformed. Most of the participants said that they knew their answers were incorrect, but they went along with the group in order to fit in, or because they thought that they would be ridiculed.This confirms that participants complied due to
normative social influence and the desire to fit in publicly without changing their
private viewpoint.
What variables did Asch test?
- Group size
- The unanimity of the majority
- The difficulty of the task
Group size affect on conformity
1 confederate-3%
2 confederates- 12.8%
3 confederates- same as original 32%
15 confederates- lower
