Social Influence - Asch Flashcards
Asch Date
1951
Asch aim
To see how far people would conform to the majority with an obviously wrong answer. (An unambiguous task - where answer is obvious).
Asch Method
Laboratory experiment with independent groups design. Groups of 8the judged line lengths by saying which comparison line matched standard line. Each group had one real participant rest were confederates. Real was always last/last but one. Did 18 trial (12 critical trials) where confederates all gave wrong answer. Was also control group where participants judged lines in isolation.
Asch Results
Control group, wrong answer 0.7% of time. Critical trials, participants conformed to majority 37% of time. 75% conformed at least once. Afterwards some participants said they didn’t really=y believe their answers but didn’t want to look different.
Asch conclusion
Control condition showed task easy to get right. But 37% wrong on critical trials shows conformed to majority due to normative social influence.
Asch evaluation
Lab experiment so good control variables. Strict control of variables means easy to repeat to see if get same results. But weren’t in a natural situation so lacks ecological validity. Ethics - participants deceived so may have been embarrassed.
What were Asch’s variables?
Group size, unanimity/social support and task difficulty.
What types of factors were Asch’s variables?
Situational Factors.
What are Situational Factors due to?
The social situation a person is in.
What are dispositional factors due to?
A person’s internal characteristics.
Group Size
With only 2 confederates real participant only conformed 14% of time on critical trials. Three confederates conformity rose to 32%. Little change to conformity rates after that. So very small majorities easier to resist than larger ones. But influence doesn’t keep increasing with size of majority.
Unanimity/ social support
Instead of confederates having unanimous majority, one confederate agreed with participant. Having fellow dissenter (disagree with majority) broke unanimity of group making it easier for participant to resist pressure to conform - rate of infirmity fell to 5.5%.
Task Difficulty
When task was more difficult (lines more similar), conformity levels increased. People were more likely to conform as less confident that they are correct.
