Social Influence - Asch Flashcards
What was Asch’s (1956) classic line study?
1956
Aim: To investigate the extent to which social pressure from a majority group could affect a person to conform.
Method: Laboratory experiment.
Procedure: 123 male undergraduate students, USA. The p’s were given a false aim that they were taking part in a vision test.
There was not one real participant in groups of 6-8 confederates.
The group were shown two cards, one with a standard line and another with there comparison lines. P’s had to state which line was the matching one. The naïve participant always answered 2nd to last.
What were the findings of Asch’s classic line study?
Findings: The naïve participant gave the wrong answer 36.8% of the time, this known as the conformity rate.
25% p’s did not conform at all- which means 75% conformed at least once. This is known as the ‘Asch effect’ - how people conform even when the task is unambiguous.
In the control group 1% gave the wrong answer.
In post-experiment interviews the p’s said they knew the answer but did it to avoid social rejection.
What what the conclusion of Asch’s classic line study?
People do conform in order to fit in and not be rejected by the group.
What were the 3 variations of Asch’s study?
Unanimity
Group size
Task difficulty.
What is meant by Asch variation of group size?
Asch wanted to investigate whether the size of the group was more important than the agreement of the group.
With three confederates, conformity rose to 31.8%. But after that there was little difference.
So, a small minority is not sufficient but there is no need for a majority of more than three.
What is meant by Asch variation of unanimity?
Asch introduced a confederate who disagreed with the others -sometimes and gave the correct answer known as a dissenter.
This was to test whether the presence of non-conforming person could influence the real p.
The presence of the dissenter reduced conformity to 5.5% compared to when there was a unanimity.
Asch theorised that the influence of the confederate would make the real p feel more independent.
What is meant by Asch variation of task difficulty?
The task was made more difficult- by making the standard line and comparison lines more similar in length.
Conformity increased under these conditions.
This suggests that informational social influence play a greater role when the task becomes harder. This because the situation is more ambiguous so we are more likely to look to other people for guidance.
