conformity: asch

Question 1

Describe Asch’s procedure

Answer 1

Standard line and comparison lines
One comparison same as standard
Pp guessed which matched
123 male undergraduates
In a group with 6-8 confederates
12 critical trials

Question 2

Describe Asch’s findings

Answer 2

Wrong answer 36.8% of the time
25% did not conform at all
75% confirmed at least once
Interviewed after - confirmed to avoid rejection

Question 3

What is the Asch effect?

Answer 3

Conformity even when the situation is unambiguous

Question 4

What are Asch’s variations?

Answer 4

Group size
Unanimity
Task difficulty

Question 5

What was the effect of group size on conformity?

Answer 5

3 confederates - 31.8%
Addition of further confederates made little difference
Majority of 3

Question 6

What was the effect of unanimity?

Answer 6

Introduced a disagreeing confederate
Conformity decreased by a quarter
Naive participant is more independent
Majority influence depends on unanimity

Question 7

What was the effect of task difficulty?

Answer 7

Lines more similar
Conformity increased
ISI plays greater role when task gets harder

Question 8

Evaluation - child of its time

Answer 8

Perrin and Spencer repeated study
Only one student conformed out of 396 trials
America was conformist in 50s
Asch effect not consistent

Question 9

Evaluation - artificial task

Answer 9

Trivial task
No reason not to conform
Didn’t resemble real life group
Not generalisable

Question 10

Evaluation - limited application

Answer 10

Only men were tested
Women more conformist due to being concerned about social relationships
Individualist culture
Only apply to American men

Question 11

Evaluation - only applies to certain situations

Answer 11

Had to answer out loud - want to impress strangers

William and Sogon - conformity higher in groups of friends

Question 12

Evaluation - ethical issues

Answer 12

Deception

Ethical cost vs benefit