Conformity - Asch Line Study

Question 1

Aim

Answer 1

To see if participants would conform to an obvious incorrect majority.

Question 2

Pilot study

Answer 2

• conducted before to make sure incorrect answer was obvious
• lots asked 20 tasks of line guessing
• 717/720 correct answers
• obvious = normative testing/valid

Question 3

Procedure

Answer 3

• 7 people sat facing the line board (6 confederates, 1 participant)
• ppt was always at the end so he could hear all other answers first
• ppt thought he was in a perception study (ethical issue)
• group looked at target line and matched one of three others to this line out loud one by one.
• confederates gave correct answer for first 12 rounds to create group dynamics
• then they began giving the incorrect answer

Question 4

Results

Answer 4

37.5% conformity rate, 75% at least once, 25% never, 5% every time

Question 5

Conclusion

Answer 5

Ppts Conform to an obvious incorrect majority due to group pressure.

Question 6

Group size

Answer 6

• Asch increased group size and found that the bigger the group the greater the conformity rate
• 4+ confederates = 37% conformity (doesn’t change much after that)

Question 7

Unanimity

Answer 7

-social support
- when one confederate gives the other incorrect answer the conformity rate drops significantly to 9% and to 5% if they also give the correct answer.

Question 8

Task difficulty

Answer 8

• Asch made the line guessing task harder
  -the harder the task the more likely someone is to conform (links to informational social influence)

Question 9

+ Lucas (ao3)

Answer 9

• gave students hard and easy math questions to complete
• gave them “example answers” that he claimed were from other students to help if they needed
• found that students were more likely to conform to using an incorrect answer on harder questions (support asch/increasing task difficulty causes increased conformity)

Question 10

• Ethical issues (ao3)

Answer 10

• deception: ppts were told they are in a study on perception
• protection from harm: they may feel embraced/uncomfortable/pressured
• informed consent: didn’t consent to this specific study

Question 11

• demand characteristics (ao3)

Answer 11

-ppts looked for how to behave - reduced validity
- maybe some confederates we’re not convincing

Question 12

• Gender bias (ao3)

Answer 12

• used only males in the study which means it’s not generalisable as females are more concerned with social relationships and may be more likely to conform.

Question 13

• Cultural bias (ao3)

Answer 13

• only done with Americans
• western, individualistic culture bias
• collectivist, eastern cultures are more susceptible to conformity