Conformity - Asch's research

Question 1

conformity definition

Answer 1

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

Question 2

group size definition

Answer 2

Asch increased the size of the group by adding more confederates, thus increasing the size of the majority. conformity increased with group size, but only to a point, leveling off when the majority was greater than 3

Question 3

unanimity definition

Answer 3

the extent to which all members of a group agree. in Asch’s studies, the majority was unanimous when all the confederates selected the same comparison line. this produced the greatest degree of conformity in the naive participants

Question 4

task difficulty definition

Answer 4

Asch’s line-judgement task is more difficult when it becomes harder to work out the correct answer. conformity increased because naive participants assume that the majority is more likely to be right

Question 5

Asch sample

Answer 5

123 American men

Question 6

Asch baseline procedure

Answer 6

123 american men were tested, each one in a group with other apparent participants. each participants saw two large white cards on each trial. the line X on the left hand card is the standard line . the lines A,B and C are the comparison lines. one of the comparison lines are clearly the same length as X, the other 2 are substantially different so clearly wrong. on each trial the participants had to say out loud which of the comparison lines were the same length as the standard line X

Question 7

physical arrangements of participants in Asch study

Answer 7

participants were tested in groups of 6 or 8. there was only one genuine (naive) participant, who were always seated last or next to last in the group. the others were all confederates of Asch that all gave the same incorrect answers each time. the genuine participant did not know the others were confederates

Question 8

Asch baseline findings

Answer 8

-on average the genuine participants agreed with confederates incorrect answers 36.8% of the time
-there were individual differences, 25% of participants never gave a wrong answer so never conformed
-So 75% of people conformed at least once

Question 9

when did Asch do his baseline procedure

Answer 9

1951

Question 10

what was Asch investigating

Answer 10

asses to what extent people will conform to the opinion of others, even in a situation where the answer is certain and unambiguous

Question 11

why is Asch original study called a baseline

Answer 11

it is the study which all later studies are compared against

Question 12

when did Asch do later studies to investigate variables that may increase or decrease conformity

Answer 12

1955

Question 13

what variables did Asch investigate that might lead to an increase or decrease in conformity

Answer 13

-group size
-unanimity
-task difficulty

Question 14

how did Asch vary study to investigate group size

Answer 14

-wanted to know if group size would be more importnat than the agreement of the group. he varied the number if confederates from 1 to 15 (so total group size was 16)

Question 15

results of Asch investigation on group size

Answer 15

-found a curvilinear relationship between group size and conformity rate
-conformity increased with group size but only to a point, with 3 confederates wrong answer rose to 31.8%, but presence of more confederates made little difference as conformity are soon leveled off

Question 16

what does Asch varied study of investigating group size show

Answer 16

suggests that most people are very sensitive to the views of others because just one or two confederates was enough to sway opinion

Question 17

how did Asch vary his study to investigate unanimity

Answer 17

wondered if the presence of a non-conforming person would affect the naive participants conformity. he introduced a confederate who disagreed with the other confederates. in one variation they gave the correct answer and in another variation they gave a different wrong answer

Question 18

Asch study investigating unanimity results

Answer 18

genuine participant conformed less often in the presence of a dissenter. the rate decreased to less than a 1/4 of the level it was when the majority was unanimous. the presence of a dissenter appeared to free the naive participant to behave more independently, this was true even when the dissenter disagreed with genuine participant

Question 19

What does Asch study investigating the variable of unanimity show

Answer 19

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

Question 20

how did Asch vary his study to investigate the variable of task difficulty

Answer 20

wanted to know if making the task harder would affect the degree of conformity. he increases the difficulty of the line judging task by making the stimulus line and the comparison lines more similar in length to each other. this means that it is harder for the genuine participants to see differences between the lines

Question 21

Asch variation of task difficulty findings

Answer 21

conformity increased as the situation is more ambiguous when the task becomes harder so it is unclear what the right answer is - ISI

Question 22

Asch variation on task difficulty suggests

Answer 22

in circumstances where task is more ambiguous, it is natural to look to other people for guidance and to assume that they are right and you are wrong which is ISI

Question 23

limitation of Asch research on conformity - artificial task and situation

Answer 23

-task and situation were artificial
-participants knew they were in a research study and may have simply gone along with what was expected (demand characteristics). the task of trying to identify lines was relatively trivial and therefore was really no reason not to conform. according to Fiske Asch’s groups were ‘not very groupy’ as did not resemble groups we experience in everyday life –> findings lacks generalisability to real-world situations, especially those where consequences of conformity may be important

Question 24

limitation of Asch’s research on conformity - limited application

Answer 24

-Asch’s participants were all american men
-other research suggests women may be more conformist, possibly as they are concerned about social relationships and being accepted (Neto 1995). furthermore, the US is and individualist culture (where people are more concerned about themselves than a social group) similar conformity studies conducted in collectivist cultures (such as china were social group is more important than the individual) have found conformity rates are higher (Bond and Smith 1996) –> means Asch’s findings tell us little about conformity in women and people from some cultures

Question 25

strength of Asch’s research on conformity - research support

Answer 25

-one strength of Asch’s research is support from other studies for effects of task difficulty
-for example Lucas et al (2006) asked participants to solve easy and hard maths problems. participants were given answers from 3 other students (not actually real). the participants conformed more often when the problems were harder –> shows Asch was correct in claiming that task difficulty is one variable that affects conformity

Question 26

limitation to Asch research on conformity - counterpoint to research support

Answer 26

-Lucas wt al study found conformity is more complex than Asch suggested.
-participants with confidence in their maths abilities conformed less on hard tasks than those with low confidence
-shows that an individual-level factor can influence conformity by interacting with situational variables (such as task difficulty). But Asch did not research roles of individual factors

Question 27

evaluation of Asch research on conformity - ethical issues

Answer 27

-Asch research increased knowledge of why people conform, which may help avoid mindless destructive conformity
-the naive participants were deceived because they thought the other people involved in the procedure (confederates) were also genuine participants like themselves. However, the ethical cost should be weighed up against the benefits gained from the study