Conformity - Asch's research Flashcards
conformity definition
a change in a persons behaviour or opinions as a result or imagined pressure from a person or group of people
group size definition
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
unanimity definition
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
task difficulty definition
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
Asch sample
123 American men
Asch baseline procedure
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
physical arrangements of participants in Asch study
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
Asch baseline findings
-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
when did Asch do his baseline procedure
1951
what was Asch investigating
asses to what extent people will conform to the opinion of others, even in a situation where the answer is certain and unambiguous
why is Asch original study called a baseline
it is the study which all later studies are compared against
when did Asch do later studies to investigate variables that may increase or decrease conformity
1955
what variables did Asch investigate that might lead to an increase or decrease in conformity
-group size
-unanimity
-task difficulty
how did Asch vary study to investigate group size
-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)
results of Asch investigation on group size
-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
what does Asch varied study of investigating group size show
suggests that most people are very sensitive to the views of others because just one or two confederates was enough to sway opinion
how did Asch vary his study to investigate unanimity
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
Asch study investigating unanimity results
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
What does Asch study investigating the variable of unanimity show
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
how did Asch vary his study to investigate the variable of task difficulty
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
Asch variation of task difficulty findings
conformity increased as the situation is more ambiguous when the task becomes harder so it is unclear what the right answer is - ISI
Asch variation on task difficulty suggests
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
limitation of Asch research on conformity - artificial task and situation
-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
limitation of Asch’s research on conformity - limited application
-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
strength of Asch’s research on conformity - research support
-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
limitation to Asch research on conformity - counterpoint to research support
-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
evaluation of Asch research on conformity - ethical issues
-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
