Asch’s Study (1951)

Question 1

How many participants were there ?

Answer 1

123 US Male Undergraduates

Question 2

How many trials were there ?

Answer 2

There was 12 trials with 1 subject each time

Question 3

What was the ‘trick’ or ‘twist’ in the study ?

Answer 3

In each trial, there were 7 individuals with 6 of them being confederates as they worked for Asch prior to this.

Question 4

What was the basis of the study ?

Answer 4

In each trial, 3 lines were drawn of different lengths with the another line being drawn. Participants were asked to match the closest line to the one that had been drawn. However, the confederates ‘purposely’ said the wrong answer to confuse the subjects.

Question 5

What were the findings of this study ?

Answer 5

33% of subjects conformed in ALL of the trials. When interviewed afterwards participants had said they conformed to avoid rejection.

Question 6

What were Asch’s variations ?

Answer 6

Task Difficulty
Unanimity
Group size

Question 7

How did levels of conformity differ after this ?

Answer 7

Task Difficulty was where Asch made the lines a lot smaller so it was obvious to tell

Group Size was where Asch decreased the amount of confederates with 3, which lead conformity to rise to 31.8%

Unanimity was where Asch added another confederate saying the right answer which lead conformity to decrease