Social influence - Asch and conformity Flashcards
what are variations that affect whether people conform in Asch’s test?
group size, unanimity, task difficulty, individual differences, and culture
what affect did varying group size have on Asch’s results?
larger group size means more conformity up to a point of 32%:
1 confederate + 1 naive = 3% conformity
2 confederates + 1 naive = 14% conformity
3 confederates + 1 naive = 32% conformity.
what affect did varying unanimity have on Asch’s results?
unanimity = more likely to conform
not unanimous = less likely to conform
what affect did varying task difficulty, ambiguity, familiarity and confidence have on Asch’s results?
difficult task = higher conformity
ambiguous task = higher conformity
familiar task = less likely to conform
more confidence = less likely to conform
what affect did varying personal differences have on Asch’s results?
gender - women generally conform more than men:
- biologically coded?
- socialised to conform more
- most studies conducted by men so tasks may be more familiar to men and less to women.
what affect did varying culture have on Asch’s results?
the USA is individualistic so 37% conformity is considered high whereas in countries like Russia, North Korea or China, 37% would not be seen as high due to their collectivist society
what were the results of Asch’s line experiment?
123 males were tested. 37% conformity across 12 trials.
how did Asch make sure that the test wasn’t actually difficult?
he conducted a control trial with 0 confederates. people only made mistakes 1% of the time
limitations of Asch’s experiment?
- 25 years after Asch’s experiment in 1981, his experiment was repeated with engineering students and only 1 person conformed in almost 400 trials (lacks temporal validity)
- not generalisable, Asch only tested males in the USA (an individualistic culture)
- artificial stimuli and task (participants may have showed demand characteristics)
