Asch's study

Question 1

AIM

Answer 1

To investigate the extent to which social pressure from a majority group could lead a person to conform

Question 2

PROCEDURE

Answer 2

123 American male undergraduates took part.

Each participant was placed in a group with 6-8 confederates.

They were asked to match a line to one of three comparison lines.

Confederates gave the wrong answer on 12 of 18 trials.

Question 3

FINDINGS

Answer 3

When faced with a unanimous wrong answer:
33% confirmed overall
75% conformed at least once

When asked participants said they conformed:
Because they didn’t want to upset the experiment
Because they wanted to avoid rejection from the group

Question 4

CONCLUSION

Answer 4

People have a strong tendency to conform to group pressure in unambiguous situations

Question 5

Factors affecting conformity

Answer 5

Difficulty of task
Unanimity
Group size

Question 6

How does group size affect conformity

Answer 6

1-2 confederates = little effect on conformity
3 confederates = conformity shot up by 30%
More than 3 = little further effect

Question 7

How does unanimity affect conformity

Answer 7

Truthful partner in a trial lowered conformity even if they gave a different incorrect answer

Question 8

How does task difficulty affect conformity

Answer 8

When comparison lines were changed to make answer more ambiguous conformity increased