social influence - variables affecting conformity Flashcards
Asch’s original experiment - AO1
Aim ?
- to investigate effects of majority opinion
- on individual judgements
Asch’s original experiment - AO1
Sample ?
123 male American students
Asch’s original experiment - AO1
Procedure ?
- ppts placed with 7-9 confederates
- presented with stimulus line ‘x’
- asked which line a/b/c was same length as ‘x’
- answered after confederates
Asch’s original experiment - AO1
Findings ?
- ppts conformed 37% of the time
- said same wrong answer as confederates
- conformed publicly but not privately (avoid ridicule)
Asch’s original experiment - AO1
Conclusions ?
- supports NSI
- public but not private acceptance
- to avoid ridicule
- unambiguous task
- ppts knew right answer
What are the 3 variables affecting conformity?
- Group size
- Unanimity
- Task difficulty
Asch’s variables affecting conformity
AO1 - Group size
- Asch conducted line task experiment
- added 1 confederate each time
- 1 ppt and 1 confederate conformity = 3%
- 2 confederates 1 ppt conformity increased to 13%
- 3 confederates 1 ppt increased to 32%
- conformity then plateaued
- increasing group size increases conformity
- up to certain point
Asch’s variables affecting conformity
AO1 - Unanimity
- when all confederates gave same wrong answer, conformity = 37%
- 1 confederate gave right answer
- conformity dropped to 5.5%
- when dissenter breaks unanimity conformity decreases
Asch’s variables affecting conformity
AO1 - Task difficulty
- asch made lines more similar in length
- harder to identify correct answer
- when task difficulty increases
- conformity increases
Asch’s variables affecting conformity
Research to support - Lucas et al
P - research to support conducted by Lucas et al
E - asked ppts to solve ‘easy’ and ‘hard’ maths problems
- ppts given 3 other answers from other students
E - conformed more when task was difficult
L - supports variables of conformity
- conformity increases when task difficulty increases
Asch’s variables affecting conformity
Research to support - Lucas et al
Counter arguement
P - Lucas et al’s study found
- conformity more complex than Asch suggested
E - ppts with higher confidence in maths abilities
- conformed less on hard maths problems
E - compared to individuals with low confidence
L - individual level factors can influence conformity
- and interact with situational variables
Asch’s variables affecting conformity
Weakness - gender bias
P - can be criticised for gender bias
- male only sample
E - difficult to generalise to women
E - females may be more conformist
- more likely to conform to social roles
- concerned about social relationships, being liked by peers
L - weakens external validity
Asch’s variables affecting conformity
Weakness - culture bias
P - culture bias
- conducted in US
E - difficult to generalise findings to non-western/collectivist
e.g. china
E - china more focused on good of the group
- fitting in
L - weakens external validity
4 AO3 points
- gender bias
- culture bias
- research to support by Lucas et al
- Lucas et al counter argument
