Social Influence: Asch's conformity Flashcards
What is Asch’s aim?
To measure the extent to which people conformed to the opinions of others even when the correct answer is certain
How many ppts in Asch’s study?
123 American Males tested individually amongst 6 to 8 confederates
What is Asch’s procedure?
All shown a card with three different lines and another with standard line which clearly matched, had to say which one
What did the confederates do in Asch’s study?
They gave a wrong answer in 12 out of 18 trials
What were Asch’s findings?
Ppts conformed 36.8% of time, 75% conformed at least once and 25% did not conform at all
What were Asch’s three variables?
Group size, uninamity and task difficulty
What was the group size variation of Asch’s study?
The number of confederates varied from 1 to 15
What were the conclusions from Asch’s group size variation?
People are very sensitive to the opinions of others and one confederate is enough to sway opinion
What were the findings from Asch’s group size variation?
There was a curvlinear relationship, 2 confederates 13.6% conformity, 3 confederates 31.8% then levelled off
What was the uninamity variation of Asch’s study?
A dissenting confederate was introduced
What were the findings of Asch’s uninamity variation?
Conformity reduced to less than a quarter of the original level
What were the conclusions of Asch’s uninamity variation?
A dissenting confederate enables the ppt to act independently
What was the task difficulty variation of Asch’s study?
The lines were made similar so that it was more difficult to tell which ones matched
What were the findings of Asch’s task difficulty variation?
Conformity increased
What were the conclusions of Asch’s task difficulty variation?
When the situation is more ambiguous we are likely to look to others for guidance and assume that they are correct
What was the limitation of Asch’s study that suggested that the tasks were artificial?
- Demand characteristics and no reason not to conform
- Fiske said groups didn’t reflect those of real life
- Findings can’t be generalised to everyday situations especially when consequences of conformity are important
What did Fiske suggest as a limitation of Asch’s study?
The groups that Asch used didn’t reflect the characteristics of those in real life
What was the limitation that suggested that Asch’s study has little application?
- Contain beta bias because only men were studied
- Neto suggested women may be more conformist because they care about social relationships and approval
- Assumed mens behaviour applies to women causing inaccurate results
What type of gender bias is in Asch’s study?
Beta bias
What did Neto suggest as a limitation of Asch’s study?
Women may be more conformist because they are more concerned about social relationships and approval
What is the strength of Asch’s study that suggests that there is supporting evidence?
- Lucas et al asked ppts to solve easy and hard maths problems with answers falsely claimed to be from other students
- When problems were harder, more likely to conform
- Task difficulty variable is correct
What did Lucas et al suggest as a strength of Asch’s study?
That people were most likely to conform to the ‘students answers’ when given difficult maths problems
What is the debate of Asch’s study which suggests that there are ethical issues?
- No informed consent and ppts may have had a bad experience
- Could be justified bc of minimal harm and findings have wide range of application
Who are the key thinkers of the topic ‘Asch’s conformity study’?
Asch
Fiske
Neto
Lucas et al
What are the titles of each evaluation point of Asch’s conformity study?
- Artifical tasks and situation
- Little application due to gender bias
- Supporting evidence of task difficulty
- Ethical issues vs findings debate
