key studies in conformity Flashcards
what was the aim of Jenness (1932) study?
whether individuals will change their opinion in an AMBIGUOUS situation, in response to group discussion
what did Jenness do?
ambiguous situation - glass bottle filled with beans (811)
- asked participants INDIVIDUALLY to estimate the amount of beans in the jar
- then put them into GROUPS of 3 for discussion
- after discussion, pps had another opportunity to INDIVIDUALLY estimate the number of beans
how many students were in the study - Jenness?
26 students
what were the results of Jenness’ study?
nearly all participants changed their original answer
- ( on average, male pps changed their answers by 256 beans, female pps changed their answers by 382 beans)
- the range of the whole group went from 1875 to 474 (75% decrease)
- CONVERGING OPINIONS of pps after discussion
what was the conclusion of Jenness’ study?
individuals changed their original estimate due to ISI
- believed the group estimates were more likely to be correct
what was the aim of Asch’s (1951) experiment?
investigate the degree to which individuals would conform to a majority who gave an OBVIOUSLY WRONG answer in a non-ambiguous situation
what did Asch do? (overview)
line experiment
- naive participant placed in a room with up to 8 confederates
- participant was always seated last (or second to last)
- each person had to state aloud their answer
how many participants were involved - Asch
123 US males
how many trials were there?
18 in total
- 12 critical trials (where confederates gave the wrong answer)
- (also a control condition where there were no confederates)
on average, how many participants conformed? (Asch)
around 35% of pps conformed in the critical trials
over the 12 critical trials, how many conformed at least once - Asch
75%
- 25% never conformed
- in control group, <1% gave the wrong answer
when interviewed, why did pps say they conformed - Asch
they knew their answers were wrong but went along with the group TO FIT IN
- NSI
what type of conformity did Asch’s experiment show? (and why)
compliance
- agreeing publicly, not privately
NSI
- pps wanted to be LIKED and accepted rather than be right
what are the 3 variables affecting conformity?
group size
unanimity of the majority
task difficulty
how did Asch investigate the 3 variables?
carried out some variations of his original experiment
what did Asch find about group size?
very LITTLE conformity when there were 1-2 confederates
majority of 3 confederates = HIGH conformity
- rates rose to 30%
BUT
- inc. past 3 confeds did not affect conformity rates
what did Campbell and Fairey (1989) say about group size?
group size will have an effect depending on the TYPE of judgement being made
- ambiguous task - conformity more likely
what is unanimity of the majority?
when everyone in the group agrees with the same answer
- whether it’s right or wrong
what did Asch find about unanimity?
if one confederate gave the CORRECT answer, conformity dropped from 33% to 5.5%
if a confederate gave the WRONG answer - but diff. to the rest - conformity dropped to 9%
- suggests it only takes one break in the unanimous decision for conformity rates to drop
how did Asch investigate task difficulty?
he made the diff. between line lengths smaller - more difficult
- conformity INCREASED
what did Lucas (2006) find about task difficulty?
influence of task difficulty is moderated by the SELF-EFFICACY of individual
- when exposed to maths problems, high self efficacy pps remained independent
- difficulty and self-efficacy are both important
what is self efficacy?
how competent / confident a person feels in carrying out a task
WEAKNESS of Asch’s study - time
LACKS TEMPORAL VALIDITY
- Perrin and Spencer (1980) repeated Asch’s experiment in UK with students
- only one student conformed (in a total of 396 trials)
- either engineering students felt more confident, or 1950s was a conformist decade
the Asch effect is NOT CONSISTENT across SITUATIONS OR TIME
WEAKNESS of Asch’s study - conditions
- DEMAND CHARACTERISTICS - lab experiment, pps may have guessed the aim and changed their behaviour
LACKS ECOLOGICAL VALIDITY - guessing line lengths is not an everyday task
- cannot generalise findings to everyday situations
WEAKNESS of Asch’s study - sample
- pps were all men - same findings may not apply to women
- pps all from the US
US = individualistic culture - people more concerned about themselves
collectivist culture, eg China - social group is more important
- HIGHER conformity rates
LACKS POPULATION VALIDITY - findings can only be applied to US males, not women or other cultures
WEAKNESS of Asch’s study - ethics
DECEPTION = ethical issue
- used confederates who gave wrong answers
- could lead to psychological harm for the pps - they would be confused as to why everyone was giving a clearly wrong answer
- question whether he gave fully informed consent
- he debriefed pps after - but was it enough
