Lessons 3-4 - Sherif and Asch's studies and Asch's variations

Question 1

Aim and method of Asch (1951)

Answer 1

• Asch believed that Sherif’s 1935 experiment had no correct answer to an ambigious atokinetic experiment. We cannot be sure that the person conformed if there was no correct answer
• He wanted to see the extent to which a person will conform to a majority group in a non-ambigious situation
• 123 US males participated in a ‘vision test’
• One participant was put into a room with 8 confederates
• Those 8 confederates agreed what their answers would be to the questions in the vision test. The participant did not have this prior knowledge

Question 2

Results and conclusions of Asch (1951)

Answer 2

• There were 18 trials and of those, 12 were critical trials where the confederates would give the wrong answers.
• About 1/3 of the participants conformed to the clearly incorrect answer in the critical trials.
• Across the 12 critical trials, 75% conformed at least once, 25% never conformed. In the control group where there were no confederates, less than 1% gave a wrong answer.
• In a post-study interview, the participants said they knew that the answers were incorrect, but wanted to fit in due to fear of ridicule.
• This study showed compliance in order to fit in. Agreeing publically, but not privately. This study supprorts NSI (L2)

Question 3

Aim and method of Sherif (1935)

Answer 3

• Sherif wanted to see how people would conform to groups in an ambiguous situation
• Sherif used an auto kinetic effect (a small spot of light projected onto a screen in a dark room will appear to move even though it is still)
• When the participants were individually tested, they estimated that the dot moved from 20-80cm, so quite considerably.
• They were then tested in 3s. In the group, two of the participants were put together because their individual estimates were similar, with the other person’s estimate being different (one person was the odd one out)

Question 4

Results of Sherif (1935)

Answer 4

• The results of the group converged
• The person whose estimate was quite different conformed to the estimate of the other two.
• Therefore they came to a group agreement instead of individual judgements

Question 5

Sherif (1935) - Follow up study

Answer 5

• Sherif first put the participants in groups, and then they came to a group answer.
• Afterwards, they were asked to perform the test on their own, and their answer was similar to the group answer
• Therefore, in an ambiguous situation, people will look to others for guidance, as they have a need to be right, therefore this supports ISI, as they have internalised the group norm and made it their own private view as well as public.

Question 6

What conditions can manipulate conformity?

Answer 6

Group Size

Unanimity of the majority

Task difficulty

Question 7

Who investigated variables affecting conformity?

Answer 7

Asch performed variations of his experiment

Question 8

Group size

Answer 8

• Asch found that there was very little conformity if there were one or two confederates in the majority.
• If there were 3 confederates, there was 30% conformity rates
• However further increases did not affect conformity.
• Size is important up to a point before it plateaus.

Question 9

Unanimity of the majority

Answer 9

• If everyone in the majority agreed with the answer regardless of whether it was right or wrong, they are unanimous
• If just one person in the group gave the correct answer, conformity rates dropped considerably:

33% to 5.5%

• You only need one break in the unanimity to decrease conformity

Question 10

Task difficulty

Answer 10

• Asch made the differences in the line lengths smaller, so that the answer was less obvious, more difficult
• Level of conformity increased here

Lucas et al (2006) investigated this further

• They found that difficulty is moderated by ‘self-efficacy’ (whether you are confident enough in carrying out a task)
• High self efficacy participants conformed less than people with low self efficacy. This shows that there are situational differences (task difficulty) and personality differences (self efficacy) in conformity levels

Question 11

Weaknesses of Asch’s original study and variations

Answer 11

• Perrin and Spencer (1980) recreated Asch’s original study on engineering students in the UK and found that only one student conformed in a total of 396 trials, compared to the 75% in Asch’s study who conformed at least once. This could be due to higher self efficacy in engineering students.
• The 50s could have been an unusually conformist decade and could have been seen as the norm. Societal norms have changed since and people may conform less. Therefore the study lacks temporal validity
• There is no doubt that the participants knew that they were in a study and may have shown demand characteristics.
• The line task isnt a very common every day task, therefore the study cannot be generalised to every day situations. Fiske (2014) argues that the groups Asch created were not very ‘groupy’ and do not reflect groups we are a part of in real life.
• There was deception used in this study. This is an ethical issue which opens the study up to criticism. The use of confederates giving deliberately wrong answers may have caused the participant confusion and possible stress, like they were getting gaslit.