Conformity Flashcards
What is conformity
A form of social influence- ‘A change in an individual’s
behaviour, attitudes or opinions as a result of real or imagined
pressure from another person or group of people’
What was the aim of Asch’s study
To investigate if people could be influenced to conform to a
group and knowingly give an obviously incorrect answer
(unambiguous task)
What was the procedure of Asch’s study
Laboratory experiment testing 123 male American students.
Each naïve P tested in a group with 6-8 confederates.
Confederates answer in turn out loud, the naïve P is always near to last
Each P had 18 trials. The confederates gave correct answers on the first few trial and there were 12 critical trials
In the critical trials all the confederates gave the same wrong answer
What were the results for Asch’s study
Asch measured the number of times each participant conformed to give the incorrect answer.
P’s conformed on 36.8% of critical trials
75% of the participants conformed on at least one critical trial and
25% of the participants never conformed.
Conclusions of Asch’s study
People are influenced by group pressure, even on an unambiguous task with an obvious answer
Known as the ‘Asch Effect’
This shows the majority of people (75%) are inclined to conform even when there is a clear correct answer.
Group pressure is strong BUT P’s did not conform on the majority of critical trials.
Weaknesses of Asch’s study (reflection)
One weakness is Asch’s results might only reflect 1950’s America 1950’s
America was particularly conformist because of McCarthyism (people were encouraged to report suspected communists so everyone was scared to behave different to the majority)
A study by Perrin and Spencer (1980) in the UK found conformity on only 1 out of 396 trials
This means that the Asch effect is not consistent over time and may only apply in certain conditions.
Weaknesses of Asch’s study (artificial task )
Another weakness is the situation and the task were very artificial
Judging line lengths in a group of strangers is a trivial task not like the situations we conform in real life.People might be less likely to conform in situations with people they know with real consequences for conforming
This means that the results might not generalise to everyday situations of conformity, which is ultimately what psychologists are interested in
Weaknesses of Asch’s study (individualistic)
A further weakness is that Asch’s research is more reflective conformity in individualist cultures than collective
Studies in collectivist cultures such as China produce higher conformity rates than those conducted in individualist cultures like America and UK
This suggests that the results may only be true of individualist cultures & cannot be generalised to collectivist cultures
What are some dispositional factors that affect conformity
Disposition = personality Something about the person makes them more/less likely to conform
personality
expertise
What are some social factors affecting conformity
Something about the situation, surroundings or other people makes an individual more likely to conform.
group size
task difficulty
anonymity
Group size
He changed to number of confederates in the group from 1 – 15
Results: 2 = 13.6%, 3 = 31.8%
More people means more pressure for us to change to fit
in with the group but adding any more people made
little difference so a majority of 3 is enough
Task difficulty
He made the comparison lines more similar so it was harder to judge which was the same length as the standard line
• When task difficulty increases, so do ratesof conformity
• When we are uncertain, we look to others for the correct answer
Anonymity
He let naïve P’s write their answers down anonymously (in secret) instead of saying them out loud in front of the group.
• Conformity rates decreased
• P’s were not afraid of looking silly by giving
a different answer and being rejected by
the group
(Only happens with strangers tho because with friends we conform even more because we want to support them)
Personality
Internal LOC = more likely to resist pressures to conform
They take responsibility for their actions/experiences, they base decisions on their own beliefs and resist pressure from others.
Self-confident
Achievement-oriented
Intelligence
Less need for social approval
Expertises
A person is less likely to conform in situations where they have a high level of expertise.
• They are likely to be more confident in their own opinions and experience of what to do.
