Aschs baseline procedure (1951)

Question 1

Aim

Answer 1

To see if participants would conform to the majority social influence and give incorrect answer when the correct answer is obvious.

Question 2

Method

Answer 2

• 123 male american students used in test.
• Recruited using a volunteering sampling technique
• 7 partcipants took part in each vision test
• Participants sat around table and were shown 2 cards
• Test card showed 1 standard line
• Other card showed 3 lines of different length,
• Participants asked to call out the obvious answer
• All participants were confederates except 1 genuine participants
• Genuine particpants called answer second to last
• Confederates gave unanimous answers 12/18 times - thse called critical trails

Question 3

Result

Answer 3

• Naive participant gave the wrong answer 36.8%
• 25% didnt conform
• 75% conformed at least once
• Particpants said in interview they conformed to avoid rejection.

Question 4

Conclusion

Answer 4

• Asche concluded that participants exhibitated a distortion of actions - they knew what the right answer was but conformed to avoid ridicule