Conformity: Asch's Research Flashcards
What did Asch’s research demonstrate?
Effects of social influence on conformity.
What is the “Asch Effect”?
The human tendency for us to sometimes do as others do, rather than what we feel is right.
What did Asch want to do?
See what would happen when ppts were exposed to NSI in a situation where there was no doubts about the correct answer.
What did Asch ask his student volunteers to do?
Take part in a visual discrimination task. The students did not known that all other ptts were confederates.
What was the real purpose of Asch’s study?
See hw the real ‘lone’ participant would react to the behaviour of the confederates.
Procedure of Asch’s study?
Showed ppts two large white cards at a time.. One had the standard lines and one had the comparison lines. The ppt was asked which one of the three matched. 123 male US undergraduates/ Each tested individually with 6-8 confederates (ppt did not know they were confederates). On first few trials, they gave the right answers but then they started making errors. 12/18 trials all confederates instructed to give the same incorrect answer.
Findings of Asch’s study?
Participants gave wrong answer 36.8% of the time. 25% did not conform at all. This means 75% conformed at least once. When people were interviewed afterwards, they said they conformed to avoid rejection (NSI).
To confirm the lines were ambiguous, Asch had a control group with no confederates. Ppts made mistakes 1% of the time.
Name 3 variations/ different variables in Asch’s research.
Group size, unanimity and difficulty of the task.
How did group size affect conformity?
Found with 3 confederates, conformity rose to 31.8%. This suggests that a small majority is not sufficient for influence to be exerted, but at the other extreme, there is no need for more than a majority of three.
How did unanimity affect conformity?
Presence of dissenting confederate meant conformity was reduced by a quarter from the level when the majority was unanimous. Allowed the ppt to behave more independently. Shows influence of majority depends on the extent of the group being unanimous.
How did task difficulty affect conformity?
Conformity increased in difficult conditions. Suggest ISI plays a larger role when task becomes harder. Ambiguous situation- look to people for guidance and assume they are right.
Asch Evaluation- A child of its time?
Perrin and Spencer- Science and engineering students, 1/396 conformed. It my be that engineering students are more confident in measuring lines or it may be that when Asch did his research in the 1950’s, it was a conformist time in America and it made more sense to conform to social norms. But society has changed a lot since then. This is a limitation as it suggest that the ‘Asch Effect’ may not be consistent across time and different situations.
Asch Evaluation- Artificial task and situation?
Ppts knew they were in a study and may have shown demand characteristics. The task was quite trivial and realistically, ppts did not have a reason to conform. The groups did not represent groups in everyday life. This is a limitation as it means it is hard to generalise the findings.
Asch Evaluation- Limited application of findings (groups).
Only men were tested. Other research suggests women may be more conformist. All men were from America, an individualistic culture. Studies on conformity within collectivist cultures suggest higher levels of conformity. Limited application as he did not take gender and cultural differences into an account.
Asch Evaluation- Limited application of findings (situations).
In Asch’s study, participants answered out loud and were with a group of strangers they wanted to impress. Williams and Sogon found conformity was higher when the majority were friends rather than strangers.
