Conformity Flashcards
What was Asch’s baseline procedure?
He devised a procedure to assess to what extent people will conform to the pressure of others, even in a situation with an unambiguous answer. 123 American men were tested each participant saw a standard line and 3 comparison lines, and the PP had to name the corresponding comparison line. The other 7/8 all gave the same incorrect answer.
What were the findings of Asch’s baseline procedure?
36.8% of the time, they conformed but 25% never conformed.
What were the 3 variations Asch had?
Group size, unanimity and task difficulty.
How did Asch investigate the effects of group size?
He had between 2 and 16 confederates in the room, and found a curvilinear relationship. Conformity increased with group size but only up to a point - 3 was the most effective and it didn’t increase much from there. This suggests most people are very sensitive to other’s views as only 2 people was enough to sway.
How did Asch investigate the effects of unanimity?
Asch introduced a confederate who disagreed with the other confederates. In one condition he gave the correct answer, in another the other wrong answer. The participant conformed less often in the presence of a dissenter, only 20.5%. The presence of a dissenter was effective even when the dissenter disagreed.
How did Asch investigate the effects of task difficulty?
He increased the difficulty of the line task so the participants were less sure. Conformity increased - possibly because the situation is more ambiguous and it is unclear as to the correct answer - ISI took over
What is the limitation - artificial stimuli?
Participants knew they were in a research study and may have gone along with demand characteristics, and the task of identifying lines was trivial and so there was no reason not to conform. This means the results are not generalisable to the real world.
What is the limitation - limited application?
Asch’s participants were American men - both androcentric and ethnocentric. Neto argues women may be more conformist because they are more concerned about social relationships and being accepted, and the US is individualist whereas a collectivist culture could have higher conformity. This mean’s Asch’s findings might only apply to a small group of people.
What is the strength - research support?
Lucas replicated his experiment with maths problems, and participants conformed more often when the tasks were harder, so Asch is correct in task difficulty affecting conformity.
What is the limitation - more complex?
Lucas found that the participant’s confidence in their own maths ability affected how likely they were to conform also - the more confident participants conformed less, so there are also dispositional factors that influence conformity.
