Variable Affecting Conformity Flashcards
What was the procedure for aschs experiment?
Asch (1951) placed a naive participant (they do not know what the
experiment is about) in a group with several confederates (people who pretend
to be participants but are actually part of the experiment). The group was
asked to look at a ‘standard line’ and then decide individually which of three
other ‘test lines’ was the same length as the standard line, without discussing it
with one another. They then gave their responses one at a time out loud. The
answer was obvious; however, the confederates gave the wrong answer on 12 of
the 18 trials. The naive participant was the last, or second to last, one to give
their response so they heard the rest of the groups’ responses before giving
their own.
What were the findings of aschs experiment?
Findings - The chance of making a genuine mistake on this task was only 1% but
33% of the responses given by participants were incorrect. 75% of participants
conformed in at least one of the 18 trials. 5% of participants conformed on
every trial but 25% did not conform on any trial. When Asch interviewed his
participants afterwards he found that most of the participants said they knew what the right answer was but they didn’t say it in Order to fit in with the majority (NSI)
How did group size affect conformity?
Asch changed group size: groups with only 1 confederate had a conformity rate of 3%. 2 confeds it went to 13%. 3 confeds went to 32%. We can resist influence of up to 2 pretty easily, but when it gets to 3, it’s much harder. Once it reached 4, there was little conformity change
Task difficulty on conformity?
Asch (1956) decided to adjust the task difficulty so he made the test lines
more similar in length. Under these circumstances the level of conformity
increased, possibly because informational social influence was starting to have
an impact. This is because when we are uncertain, we look to others for
confirmation. The more difficult the task became the greater the informational
social influence and the conformity.
Unanimity on conformity?
When the group had unanimity (everyone agreed) conformity increased.
However, when only one other person in the group gave a different answer from
the others, meaning that the group was not unanimous, conformity dropped
Asch (1956) found that even the presence of just one confederate who went
against the majority reduced conformity from 33% to 5%. Even when the
confederate gave a different wrong answer to the rest of the group conformity
dropped from 33% to 9%.
Evaluation asch
- Asch (1951, 1956) may not have temporal validity (when a study reflects the
current time period). The study was conducted 80 years ago and it is possible
that people may have been more conformist then than they are now. Post-war
attitudes that people should work together and consent rather than dissent may
have affected the results. - The task given to the participants, to match line lengths, is artificial and
unlikely to occur in real life. Conformity usually takes place in a social context,
often with people we know rather than strangers. The study therefore lacks
mundane realism (it does not reflect real life) and ecological validity (cannot be
generalised to real life). - This study is gender biased because the sample only contained male
participants. This means that the study may not represent female behaviour. It
is also culturally biased because it only included white American men and may
not reflect the behaviour of other cultures. However, this study has since been
replicated (repeated) with different samples (the people who take part in a
study) and cultures, and has proven to be reliable (similar results have been
found). - Asch (1951, 1956) used a volunteer sample participants offered to take part
in his experiment) whose behaviour may not represent that of a wider
population. This means the study does not have population validity and the
results cannot be generalised to the wider population. - There are several ethical issues with this study, including deception
(participants believed they were taking part in a test of perception), lack of
informed consent (participants did not agree to take part in a study about
conformity) and psychological harm (participants were put in a stressful and
embarrassing situation). However, it was necessary to deceive participants
about the purpose of the study to prevent demand characteristics (when
participants change their behaviour because they are in a study) which would
make the study not valid (when a study does not measure what it intends to
measure)
