Asch's original study and conformity Flashcards
definition of conformity
A change in a person’s behaviour or opinions as a result of real or imagined pressure from a person or group of people. yielding to group pressure - also known as majority influence.
definition of compliance
going along with what others are doing to fit in, when you not with them you act normal.
definition of identification
only temporary only wear/act it when you are in that group, sometimes you join because you value something.
definition of internalisation
the change is permanent genuinely believes and accepts group norm, might become a part of a way they think.
example of compliance
laughing at a joke you don’t find funny
example of identification
football team, school uniform, work uniform
example of internalisation
religion
Asch’s original study: what is the aim of his experiment?
how social pressure could affect behaviour (conformity)
Asch’s original study: how many people took part?
123 males
Asch’s original study: did he tell them what was acc happening in the experiment?
no, they thought they were taking part in ‘visual perception’.
Asch’s original study: what task did he use?
a line judgement task
Asch’s original study: were there confederates (actors)?
yes there were seven Confederates and 1 naive participant
Asch’s original study: where did the participant sit?
last or second to last
Asch’s original study: was the answer in the task obvious?
yes
Asch’s original study: what were critical trails?
when confederates gave incorrect answers (12/18 trails)
Asch’s original study: what was the percentage of how many participants conformed to the incorrect answers on the critical trails?
36.8%
Asch’s original study: how many conformed at least once on the critical trials?
75%
Asch’s original study: how many participants never conformed?
25%
Asch’s original study: what is the control group?
one real participant completed the same experiment without any confederates.
Asch’s original study: what was the percentage for the control group of getting an answer wrong?
less than 1%
Asch’s original study: when he interviewed the participants what did they say?
they said they knew their answers were wrong however they went along to fit in, or because they thought they would be ridiculed
Asch’s original study: conclusion
individual judgements are affected by majority influenced.
conformed due to social influence.
definition of group size?
the no. of members within a social group.
definition of unanimity?
the degree to which the group members are in agreement with each other
definition of task difficulty?
how obvious the correct answer is.
Asch’s original study: why did he want a variation of group size?
- to know if more people made group agreements
2. add more members
Asch’s original study: what did he realise about group size?
3 ppl is enough to rise conformity levels up to 31.8%
Asch’s original study: why did he want a variation of unanimity?
he wanted to know if the presence of a non conforming person will change the level of conformity
Asch’s original study: what did he realise about unanimity?
people would be more independent if they had someone else disagreeing.
Asch’s original study: why did he want a variation of task difficulty?
when he made the task harder it showed that people look at other people for guidance.
Asch’s original study: what did he realise about unanimity?
increased under these conditions.
