Conformity- Asch's research

Question 1

Asch’s Aims

Answer 1

• asses to what extent people will conform to the opinion of others even when the answer is ambiguous
• this study used to be compared to all the others

Question 2

Asch’s baseline procedure

Answer 2

• 123 American men tested
• line labelled X, ABC= comparison lines
• one comparison line is clearly same as X and other two v diff
• had to say out loud which comparison line was the same as X

Question 3

Physical arrangement of pp in the study

Answer 3

• tested in groups of 6-8
• 1 genuine pp, seated last or 2nd to last
• all others were given incorrect answer to say
• pp didn’t know confederates were fake

Question 4

Asch’s baseline findings

Answer 4

• genuine pp agreed w incorrect answer 36.8% of time
• there were individual differences
• 25% of pp never gave the wrong answer ( conformed)

Question 5

Variables investigated by Asch

Answer 5

• investigated variables that may increase or decrease conformity
• group size
• unanimity
• task difficulty

Question 6

How group size affected conformity

Answer 6

• varied number of confederates from 1-15
• conformity increased with group size but only up to a point
• w 3 confederates conformity rose to 31.8%
• adding more confederates had little affect
• people are more sensitive to the views of others when more than 3 ppl are there

Question 7

How unanimity affected conformity

Answer 7

• confederate disagreed with other confederates
• pp conformed less with a dissenter
• decreased to less than 1/4 of amount when majority conformed
• freed naive pp to be more independent even when confederates answer was also wrong just diff

Question 8

How task difficulty affected conformity

Answer 8

• increased difficulty of line judging task
• harder for genuine pp to see difference in lines
• conformity increased bc situation was more ambiguous
• naturally looked at others for guidance (ISI)

Question 9

Evaluation limitation: Artificial situation and task

Answer 9

• knew they were In a simulation so gone along with demand characteristics
• trivial task so no reason not to conform
• Fiske: ‘ group wasn’t very groupy’
• findings do not generalize real world situations

Question 10

Evaluation limitation: limited application

Answer 10

• they were all American men but women are said to be more conformist
• US= individualist culture so more concerned about themselves than social groups
• similar studies in collectivist cultures (China) have found higher conformity rates

Question 11

Evaluation strength: research support

Answer 11

• Lucas et al. asked participants to solve ‘easy’ and ‘hard’ maths questions
• given 3 answers from other students
• conformed more when questions were harder
• task difficulty affects conformity

Question 12

Evaluation COUNTER: conformity is more complex than suggested

Answer 12

• Lucas et al.’s study suggested its more complex than Asch suggested
• pp with high confidence in their maths skills conformed less on hard tasks than those with low confidence
• individual level factors can affect conformity by interacting with situational variables