Conformity: Asch Flashcards
When was Asch’s original and variable studies?
1951 and 1955.
What procedure did Asch use to test conformity?
He showed participants two large white cards, one with the ‘standard line’ and the other with three ‘comparison lines’. One of the three ‘comparison lines’ was the same length as the ‘standard line’ and two were substantially different. The participant was asked to identify the matching line.
Who was tested in Asch’s study?
123 American male undergraduates.
How many confederates were present with the naive participant?
6 to 8 confederates (the participant was unaware they were confederates).
How many line combinations were shown to each participant?
18 trials but 12 were ‘critical’ as they were wrong and the conformance was being studied.
What did Asch find out in his original study?
The naive participant gave the wrong answer on 36.8% of trials, 25% of participants never conformed meaning 75% did conform at least once.
When participants were interviewed afterwards, what did most say the reason for conformity was?
Normative social influence (NSI).
What is the Asch effect?
The extent to which participants conform even when the situation is ambigous.
What were the variations of Asch’s study?
- Group size
- Unanimity
- Task difficulty
How did Asch vary his experiment to investigate the effects of group size and what did he find?
Asch found that with three confederates the conformity was at 32%, this is close to the initial result and shows that more than 3 confederates does not dramatically increase the conformity levels.
How did Asch vary his experiment to investigate the effects of unanimity and what did he find?
He introduced a confederate who disagreed with the majority (most of the time). The conformity rate was reduced by a quarter.
How did Asch vary his experiment to investigate the effects of task difficulty and what did he find?
Asch brought the two non-matching lines closer to the ‘stimulus line’, he found conformity increased under these conditions. Suggesting ISI plays a greater role when the task becomes harder.
When Asch investigated the increased task difficulty, what did his results suggest about Informational social influence?
The ISI plays a greater role when the task becomes harder as the situation is more ambiguous.
AO3: Low temporal validity.
Perrin and Spencer (1980) repeated Asch’s original study with engineering students in the UK and only 1 student in 396 trials conformed. Asch’s high conformity findings may be due to the study being done in the 1950’s which was an especially conformist time in America.
AO3: Artificial situation and task.
Participants were aware they were in a research study and may have simply gone along with demand characteristics. The trivial task may have been the reason for conformity as there was little consequences to going with the flow.
