Social Influence Flashcards
What is the key study for variables affecting conformity?
Asch
What year was Asch ?
1951
What was the aim of Aschs 1951 study ?
To discover wether the participant will conform to the group/majority even if the answers are obvious
Sample of Asch 1951 study ?
123 US male volunteers
Procedure of Aschs 1951 main study ?
- One participant was put in a room with 7 confederates (in on research instructed by Asch) , but believed that they confederates where participants like themselves
- The group is then asked a simple line judging task - given a original line and then other lines and asked to judge what line is the same length as the original line they were given
- The answer to this task is very obvious
- On 12/18 trials confederates would give the same wrong answer, even though answer was obvious
On how many trials would confederates give the same wrong answer - Asch ?
12/18
What % of trails did conformity occur on - Findings of Asch 1951 ?
- Asch found that conformity occurred on 33% of trials
How many participants conformed at least once - finings of Asch 1951 ?
75% of participants conformed at least once
Summery of Asch 1951 findings ?
Conformity occurred on 33% of trials
75% of participants conformed at least once
What did the findings of Asch lead him to conclude?
People can and will conform to an easy wrong answer, epically when influenced by a large majority
Asch conducted 4 main variations of his study - what are they ?
- group size
- answers in private
- unamity of the majority
- task difficulty
Asch variations - how was task difficulty changed ?
Asch wanted to increase task difficulty so he moved the lines closer together to make the task for difficult
Asch variations - how did an increase in task difficulty affect conformity
Conformity did increase
When task is more difficult conformity will increase
What kind of social influence does the task difficulty variation support and why ?
Supports informational social influence - we conform because we desire to be correct and the group is used as a source of information so…
Because the task was difficult the participants were less sure of answer so looked to the group for guidance and correct answers, why conformity increased.
Asch variations - how was group size changed ?
Asch changed group size by decreasing it so the was less confederates
3 confederates, then to 2 confederates and then to 1 confederate
Asch variations - decreasing how did group size affect conformity ?
The smaller the group the less conformity
3 confederates, conformity = 32%
2 confederates, conformity = 12.5%
1 confederate, conformity = 3%
Asch variations group size - conformity % with 3 confederates?
3 = 32%
Asch variations group size - conformity % with 2 confederates?
2 = 12.5%
Asch variations group size - conformity % with 1 confederates?
1 = 3%
Asch variations - what type of social influence does group size variation support ?
It supports both informational and normative social influence
Asch variations - what happened to conformity when participants were allowed to write their answers in private?
Conformity dropped to 12.5% - when allowed to write their answers in private so group couldn’t see
Asch variations - what kind of social influence does the answers in private variation support ?
Supports normative social influence - when the participants allowed to answer by themselves conformity dropped to 12.5% but when with group was much higher suggesting that normative social influence is right and that we only conform because want to appear normal and not disturb group harmony
Asch variations - how did Asch affect the unanimity of majority ?
Asked one confederate to break from the group and give correct answers each time
Asch variations - how did distribution of the unanimity of majority effect conformity ?
Conformity dropped to 5% when a confederate gave correct answer
Asch variations - what kind of social influence does the unanimity of majority variation support ?
Normative social influence - when group no longer seen as majority the is no issues with effecting group harmony so more likely to give correct answer = conformity dropped to 5%
What did Asch find in the control group for his experiment?
In the control group 711/720 answers were correct.
How many answers in control group were correct ?
711 out of 720
Why is the the control groups result good ?
Gives Aschs study Face validity
Control group ensure that the experiment has valid and meaningful results that the line task was an obvious and easy one
and that conformity did occur
What era was Aschs study carried out and what problems does this pose .
1951 - McCarthy area - anti communist very conformist right wing era, therefore Aschs study lacks temporal validity
Name of the Study that is similar to Aschs that was Carried out in 1980s in UK ?
Perrin and Spencer
How many trials did Perrin and Spencer conduct and what did they find ? - Asch variables effecting conformity
They conducted 396 trials and only found only 1 conformity
1 / 396
What does Perrin and Spencer show ?
That Aschs study may lack temporal validity as their similar study in 80s had very different results
Which researcher are investigated conformity to social roles ?
Zimbardo
What was the name of the experiment that Zimbardo conducted?
Stanford prison experiment
What year did Zimbardos Stanford prison experiment take place ?
1973
Aim of zimbardo 1973 ?
Wanted to find out if participants will conform to their given and assigned social roles when given uniforms and treated like their assigned role