Social Influence - Comformity (Asch)

Question 1

What is conformity?

Answer 1

A form of social influence
When a persons thinking/behaviour changes as a result of GROUP PRESSURE
May be real or imagined

Question 2

What’s it called to conform because you want to be liked?

Answer 2

Normative social influence

Question 3

What’s it called to conform to get the answer right?

Answer 3

Informational social influence

Question 4

What’s the aim of Asch’s study?

Answer 4

To see how people respond to group pressure

Chose a task where answer was clearly wrong (unambiguous) to see if people are still influenced by others

Question 5

What’s the method of Asch’s study?

Answer 5

123 male student participants (naive) each tested with 6-8 confederates
They thought others were real participants
Sat round semicircle table and naive went near end
Shown 2 large cards - one with one line and other with three options
Each person had to say which matched og (left to right)
18 trials - first few were right but 12 critical trials chose wrong ones

Question 6

What’s the results of Asch’s study?

Answer 6

On 12 critical trials naive gave wrong answer 36.8% of time
There were individual differences - 25% never gave wrong answer
A few conformed most times

Question 7

What’s the conclusion of Asch’s study?

Answer 7

People are influenced by group pressure even when clear answer
Results called Asch effect (extent to which people conform even in an unambiguous situation)
Show very high level of independence - evidence that people can resist pressure to conform

Question 8

Strength of Asch’s study? (Lab)

Answer 8

Lab experiment so strong control over variables
He could alter specific factors to see how they influenced conformity
It rose when group size increased but decreased when they could write down answers anonymously
Means he identify variables that affected the DV

Question 9

Strength of Asch’s study? (Supports theory)

Answer 9

Supports theory of group pressure
When completed task alone, error rate was less than 1%
Rose to 36.8% when same task was performed in group
Results showed people even conformed in an unambiguous situation.

Question 10

Weakness of Asch’s study?

Answer 10

Task is artificial
Judging the length of lines with strangers doesn’t reflect everyday situations where people conform
Might conform less if consequences were important
Cannot be generalised to situations where consequences are important