Conformity:Asch Flashcards

1
Q

What is conformity?

A

A change in a persons behaviour or opinions as a result of a real or imagined pressure from a person or group of people

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2
Q

What did Asch (1951) devise a procedure to assess?

A
  • to assess to what extent people will conform to the opinion of others even in a situation where the answer is certain (unambiguous)
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3
Q

What was Asch’s baseline procedure?

A
  • 123 American men were tested
  • each p saw two large white cards of a standard line X on one card & the lines A,B,C on the other card as comparison lines
  • one of the lines are always clearly the same length as X & other 2 are substantially different
  • each trial p’s had to say out loud which of the comparison lines was the same length as line X
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4
Q

How were the participants tested in his baseline procedure?

A
  • in groups of 6 to 8
  • only one was a naïve participant & was always seated last or next to the last
  • others were all confederates (gave all the incorrect scripted answer)
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5
Q

What was Asch’s baseline findings?

A
  • on average, the genuine p’s agreed with confederates incorrect answers 36.8% of the time
  • 25% of p’s never conformed
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6
Q

What 3 variables did Asch investigate that might lead to an increase or decrease in conformity (1955) ?

A
  • group size
  • Unanimity
  • Task difficulty
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7
Q

What did Asch do in the group size variable?

A
  • increased the size of the group by adding more confederates (total group size was 2-16)
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8
Q

What was Asch’s findings & conclusions from the group size variable?

A
  • found a curvilinear relationship between group size & conformity rate
  • conformity increased with group size but only up to a point
  • 3 confederates= conformity to wrong answer rose to 31.8%
  • suggest people are very sensitive to the views of others as one or two confederates was enough to way opinion
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9
Q

What did Asch do in the unanimity study?

A
  • the extent to which all members of a group agree
  • Asch introduced a confederate who disagreed with the other confederates
    (one variation they gave the correct answer, in another they gave a different wrong answer)
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10
Q

What was Asch’s findings and conclusions from the unanimity variable?

A
  • genuine p conformed less often in the presence of a dissenter
  • rate decreased to less than a quarter of the level it was when the majority was unanimous
  • suggests that the influence of the majority depends to a large extent on it being unanimous
  • non-conformity is more likely when cracks are perceived in the majority’s unanimous view
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11
Q

What did Asch do in the task difficulty study?

A
  • Ash increased the difficulty of the line judging task by making the stimulus line & comparison line more similar in length to see if this would affect degree of conformity
  • became harder for the genuine p’s to see the difference between the lines
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12
Q

What was Asch’s findings and conclusions from the
task difficulty variable?

A
  • found that conformity increased
  • may be that the situation is more ambiguous when the task becomes harder> unclear what the right answer is
  • look to others for guidance as they assume they are right (ISI)
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13
Q

What is a limitation of Asch’s research task and situation?

A
  • task and situation were artificial
  • p’s knew they were in a research study & may simply have gone along with what was expected (demand characteristics)
  • task of identifying lines was relatively trivial & therefore there was really no reason not to conform
  • findings don’t generalise to real- world situations, especially those where the consequences of conformity might be important
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14
Q

What is a limitation of Asch’s sample?

A
  • Asch’s p’s were all American men
  • other research suggests women may be more conformist because they are more concerned about social relationships & being accepted
  • US is also an individualistic culture > Bond & Smith have found conformity rates are higher in collectivist cultures
  • means Asch’s findings tell us little about conformity in women & people from other cultures = reduced validity
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15
Q

What research support is there for Asch’s research?

A
  • support from other studies for the effects of task difficulty
  • Lucas et al asked p’s to solve ‘easy’ & ‘hard’ maths problems
  • p’s were given answers from three other students (not real)
  • p’s conformed (to wrong answers) more often when the problems were harder
  • shows Asch was correct in claiming that task difficulty is one variable that affects conformity
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16
Q

What is counterpoint to research supporting task difficulty?

A
  • found conformity is more complex than Asch suggested
  • p’s with high confidence in their maths abilities conformed less on hard tasks than those with low confidence
  • shows and individual-level factor can influence conformity by interacting with situational variables
  • Asch research does not account for individual factors=limited