Aschs Research Flashcards
Outline Asch’s baseline procedure
-123 American men tested- each one in a group with other participants. Each saw two cards, one with line X and other A,B,C- one of which was clearly same length as X.
-Participants tested in groups of 6-8. Only one genuine naive participant- seated last or second last. Others were confederates (gave same incorrect answer).
Outline findings of Aschs baseline procedure
Genuine participants agreed with confederates incorrect answer 36.8% of the time (conformed 1/3 of the time).
- There were individual differences- 25% of participants never gave a wrong answer (never conformed)
PEEL- Group size
Point- An individual is more likely to conform when In a larger group.
Evidence-There was low conformity rates when amount of confederates was less than three- at three it rose to 31.8%. Presence of more confederates then made little difference- conformity rates levelled off.
Explanation- Person more likely to confirm if all members are in agreement and give same answer- increase their confidence in correctness of group, and decrease their confidence in own answer. Conformity doesn’t seem to increase in groups larger than 4- optimal group size.
Link- This shows that the majority must be at least 3 to exert an influence, but an overwhelming majority is not needed to bring about conformity.
PEEL- Unanimity
Point- An individual is more likely to conform when group is unanimous.
Evidence-When Asch introduced a confederate who disagreed with other confederate- conformity dropped to 5%
Explanation- the more unanimous the group is, the more confidence the participant will have that they are correct, and therefore participants answer is more likely to be incorrect.
Link- Unanimity is vital in establishing a consistent majority view, which is particularly important by providing normative social influence through preventing any conflicting views arising.
PEEL- Task difficulty
Point- An individual is more likely to conform when the task is difficult
Evidence- For example, Asch altered the lines making them more similar in length. Since it was harder to judge the correct answer conformity increased.
Evidence- When the task is difficult, we are more uncertain of our answer so we look to others for confirmation. The more difficult the task the greater the conformity.
Link- This suggests that informational social influence is a major mechanism for conformity when the situation is ambiguous and the individual doesn’t have their own knowledge or information to make an informed decision independently, and so has to look towards others.
Limitation- Artificial
One limitation is that the task and situation were artificial. Participants knew they were in a study. May have gone along with what was expected. Trivial task, no reason not to conform. Aschs groups were not very groupy. Findings don’t generalise to real-world situations, especially where consequences of conformity may be important.
Limitation- American men
Other research suggests women may be more conformist- possibly more concerned about social relationships and being accepted.
-US is an individualist culture (more concerned about themselves. Similar studies in china (collectivist culture) show conformity rates are higher. This means ash’s research tells us little about conformity in women and people from cultures.
Strength- research support
One strength is that task difficulty is supported by other studies.
-Todd Lucas et al. (2006) asked their participants to solve ‘easy’ and ‘hard’ maths problems. Participants were given answers from three other students ( not actually real). The participants conformed more when problems were harder.
-counterpoint- Lucas et al’s study found that conformity is more complex than Asch suggested. Participants with high confidence in their maths abilities conformed less on hard tasks than those with low confidence. Shows individual level factor can influence conformity.
Ethical issue
Participants were deceived- thought others were involved in procedure.
