SI: Conformity: Asch's research Flashcards
Procedure of Asch: Conformity research.
123 American male students, each tested individually with a group of between 6 and 8 confederates. On each trial, the participant identified the length of a standard line. First few trials, confederates gave correct answers but then all selected the same wrong answers. Each participant completed 18 trials. On 12 ‘critical trials’ confederates gave the wrong answer.
What was Asch’s sample?
123 American male students.
How many trials were there? How many were critical?
18 trials, 12 critical.
How many confederates was each participant tested amongst?
6-8 confederates.
Findings & conclusions of Asch: Conformity research.
Naive participants gave a wrong answer 36.8% of the time- shows a high level of conformity, called the Asch effect. Considerable individual differences. 25% of participants never gave a wrong answer so 75% conformed at least once. A few participants conformed most of the time. Most participants said they conformed to avoid rejection (NSI) and continued to privately trust their own opinions (compliance).
What percentage of the time did naive participants give a wrong answer?
36.8% of the time.
What percentage of participants never gave a wrong answer?
25%, so 75% conformed at least once.
How many participants conformed most of the time?
A few.
Procedure of Asch: Variables affecting conformity: Group size.
The number of confederates varied between 1 and 15.
Findings & conclusions of Asch: Variables affecting conformity: Group size.
Two confederates, conformity to wrong answer was 13.6%, with three it rose to 31.8%. Adding any more confederates made little difference.
Procedure of Asch: Variables affecting conformity: Unanimity.
Asch introduced a truthful confederate or a confederate who was dissenting but inaccurate.
Findings & conclusions of Asch: variables affecting conformity: Unanimity.
Presence of dissenting confederate reduced conformity, whether the dissenter was giving the right or wrong answer. The figure was, on average, 25% wrong answers. Having a dissenter enables a naive participant to behave more independently.
Procedure of Asch: Variables affecting conformity: Task difficulty.
Asch made the line-judging task more difficult by making the stimulus line and comparison lines more similar in length.
Findings & conclusions of Asch: Variables affecting conformity: Task difficulty.
Conformity increased when task was more difficult. So ISI plays a greater role when the task becomes harder. The situation is more ambiguous, so we are more likely to look to others for guidance and assume they are right.
Limitations of Asch’s research.
‘CHILD OF THE TIMES’: Perrin and Spencer found just one conformity response in 396 trials. Participants (UK engineering students) felt more comfortable measuring lines than Asch’s original sample, so were less conformist. Also, the 1950s were a conformist time in America and people might be less likely to conform in subsequent decades. The Asch effect is not consistent over time, so is not an enduring feature of human behaviour.
FINDINGS ONLY APPLY TO CERTAIN SITUATIONS: participants answered out loud and were with a group of strangers they wanted to impress. Conformity could be higher than usual. But Williams and Sogon found conformity was higher when the majority were friends rather than strangers. Therefore the Asch effect varies depending on the circumstances.
