Social influence - variations affecting conformity (Asch) Flashcards
What year was Asch’s classic line study?
(1951)
What was the aim?
To investigate the extent to which social pressure from a majority group could affect a person to conform
Type of experiment?
Lab
Sample?
50 male students, from the USA
What aim were ppts. given, why?
False - told they were taking part in a vision test so they didn’t guess the true aim and display demand characteristics
Procedure?
- Only one naïve ppt. in a group of 6-8 confederates
- Group shown 2 cards: 1 with standard line and another with 3 comparison lines
- Ppts. asked to state which comparison line matched the standard line
- Naïve ppt. always answered second to last as a control
- In first few trials, confederates always gave right answer, then started making errors
- Ppts. took part in 18 trials and 12 were ‘critical trials’ where confederates gave wrong answer - only this data included in analysis
What does the average conformity rate mean?
How many times naïve ppts. answered incorrectly as a percentage
What was the average conformity rate?
36.8%
What percentage of ppts. conformed at least once?
75% - known as the Asch effect (how people conform even when the task is unambiguous)
What percentage in the control group gave the wrong answer?
1% - One real ppt. completed the same experiment without any confederates
What did ppts. say in post-experiment interviews?
They knew the correct answer but conformed to avoid social rejection
This supports NSI or ISI?
NSI - people do conform, even in unambiguous situations, in order to fit in and not be rejected by the group
How did Asch investigate the variable of ‘group size’?
He increased the number of confederates in the group to 15 to see how it affected conformity
What where the (group size) results?
As group size increased, so did conformity
- With only 1 confederate, average conformity rate was 3%
- With 3 confederates, this rose to 32%
- After a group size of 3, conformity rate plateaued
1 = 3% 2 = 13% 3 = 32%
What is the (group size) explanation?
Pressure of NSI increases as the group gets bigger
How did Asch investigate the variable of ‘unanimity’?
He introduced a confederate that disagreed with the others (dissenter) and gave the correct answer to see if a non-conforming person could influence the naïve ppt.
What were the (unanimity) results?
Conformity was reduced to 5%
What is the (unanimity) explanation?
Dissenter broke unanimity of group and added social support to reduce the pressure of NSI
How did Asch investigate the variable of ‘task difficulty’?
He made the standard and comparison lines more similar in length
What were the (task difficulty) results?
As task increased in difficulty, so did conformity
What is the (task difficulty) explanation?
The situation was more ambiguous, so naïve ppts. looked to others for guidance and pressure of ISI increased
