Social influence: Variables affecting conformity Flashcards
What was Asch’s aim for his research to study conformity?
To see if people will conform to a majority, even with an obvious answer.
What was Asch’s procedure of the conformity experiment?
123 American males took part. They were in groups of 6-8, but only one of them was a true participant- the rest were confederates (told how to act by the researcher). They had to answer out loud which line, from a choice of three, matched a ‘control’ line. The answer was obvious. There were 18 trials, and on 12 of them (‘critical trials’), the confederates all gave the same wrong answer. The real participant gave their answer last or last-but-one.
What was Asch’s finding of the conformity experiment?
36.8% of the answers given by the participants were conforming answers. 75% of participants conformed at least once. 25% never conformed. 5% conformed on every trial.
What was Asch’s conclusion of the conformity experiment 1956?
People will conform to a majority, even if that majority is wrong. Afterwards, participants said they conformed in order to fit in.
How does Asch’s study support normative social influence?
In the follow up interviews the participants said that they knew they were answering incorrectly, yet didn’t want to be ridiculed.
How does Asch’s study support informational social influence?
75% who answer incorrectly said they did this as they thought the others would know better than they did and they began to doubt their own judgement.
A03: Asch’s study
+ Lab experiment
+ Lack of ecological validity
- Lack of historical validity
- Ethical issues
A03: Lab experiment
It was a laboratory experiment and therefore there is a high degree of control over variables: For example, Asch was able to control where the confederates sat, the incorrect answers that they gave etc. This is positive because it suggests that the IV (agreement of the confederates) was the only variable affecting the DV (conformity) allowing a cause and effect relationship to be established giving the study high internal validity.
A03: Lack of ecological validity
Asch’s research can be criticised as lacking ecological validity. For example, the participants were placed in an unfamiliar group of strangers (the confederates) and were expected to carry out an artificial task. This is a weakness as the study is not reflective of the participant’s real-life behaviour and therefore the findings from the study cannot be generalised beyond the artificial setting.
A03: Lack of historical validity
Asch’s study can be criticised as being a ‘child of its time.’ For example, Asch’s study was conducted in America, in the 1950’s during the era of McCarthyism (a feeling of strong anti-Communist feeling in America) when people were scared to be different. This is a weakness as the study can be criticised as lacking ecological validity, because it is possible that the findings are unique to one particular culture and time (zeitgeist) therefore the findings may not be reflective of the current time.
A03: Ethical issues
The study can be criticised on ethical grounds for deceiving the participants. Evidence for this comes from the way in which Asch told his participants that all of the people sat around the table were participants when they were really confederates, deliberately misleading the individual. This is a problem and it is now recognised in the BPS guidelines that deception should be avoided and by using deception, it is also not possible to gain full informed consent for the experiment until afterwards during a debriefing (this is known as retrospective consent).
What were Asch’s three follow up studies?
Group size
Unanimity
Task difficulty
How did Asch change the group size of his experiment?
Used one actor rather than 6
Conformity decreased to 3% as less people involved so less pressure felt.
How did Asch change the unanimity of the group?
Rather than 6 actors in agreement he used 5 and one gave the correct answer
Conformity decreased to 6% as there is not as much pressure to conform.
How did Asch adapt the difficulty of the task?
Made the lines more similar
Conforming increased as people were more unsure.
