Explanations of Conformity Flashcards
Who researched into explanations for Conformity?
Asch (1951)
What was Asch (1951)’s aim?
To see if participants yield to conform to a majority influence in an unambiguous situation
What was Asch (1951)’s procedure?
Used 50 male college students in first study. In the experiment room, seven students looked at two cards, one showed one line and the other showed 3 vertical lines of different lengths. P’s in turn called out which of the three lines was the same as the test line. All of the participants were confederates except the one who sat second from last. Accomplices gave unanimous wrong answers on 12 of the 18 trials, and these were known as critical trials
What were Asch (1951)’s results?
Participants conformed to the unanimous incorrect answer on 32% of the critical trials, and 74% conformed at least once, with only 26% never conforming.
In post experiment interviews, some participants stated they actually believed the confederates were correct whereas some stated they changed their answer as they could not bear being the minority
What was Asch (1951)’s conclusion?
When the situation is ambiguous, people still conform to strong group pressure
Strengths of Asch’s study?
Results of this experiment have been replicated numerous times, therefore increasing the reliability and validity of these findings
There is other evidence to support this study, Lucas et al asked P’s to solve ‘easy’ and ‘hard’ maths problems. P’s were given answers that falsely claimed to be from other students. The P’s conformed more when they heard the problems were harder.
Limitations of Asch’s study?
All participants from a male college so is a limited sample size, and this means the generalisability can be questioned
The task was extremely artificial, lacking mundane realism. We cannot be sure how participants would act in a more realistic task
Also ethical issues with Asch’s study, as participants were deceived and did not know the true aims. May cause harm if P’s become concerned about their perceptual and intellectual abilities
What is meant by Normative Social Influence?
When somebody conforms because they want to be accepted and liked the group. Person may publicly change behaviour but privately disagree. NSI often leads to compliance. Seen when there is chance of rejection from group.
What is meant by Informational Social Influence?
When somebody conforms because they do not know what to do, but they want to be correct. They assume the majority know what the right thing to do is. Leads to internalisation, and is most likely to happen when there is a crisis
Strengths of explanations of conformity
Idea of NSI is supported through Asch’s study, as people said in follow up interviews they conformed to avoid the discomfort of disagreeing
ISI also supported through Asch as he found some people who claimed to conform because they felt the confederates were correct
Limitations of explanations of conformity
Sometimes NSI and ISI work together as part of dual process as people conform to be right as they want to be liked
Much of research to support these ideas comes from artificial tasks + settings, therefore we could question the validity in the real world
Individual differences may play a role in social influence as some people are less impacted by NSI due to their nature of non - conformity. Known as non affiliates as they do not conform in situations of wanting to be liked
