Variables Affecting Conformity Flashcards
What was the method of Asch’s study?
He took 123 male American undergraduate students and they each took turns to join a group of confederates to take part in a task. The real (naïve) participant didn’t know that the rest of the people taking part in the task were all confederates and they thought they were real participants, like themselves. There were between 7 and 9 people in a group, so the number of confederates were between 6 and 8. All participants sat around a table with the real participant last or second to last. All participants were shown 2 cards; one card with a standard line (labelled X) and another card with three comparison lines and participants had to select which line was most similar to line X. Confederates gave the correct answer on 6 of the 18 trials but on 12 of the trials the confederates all agreed on the same incorrect lines. Asch’s wanted to see if the participant would agree with the majority and go for the obviously wrong line.
What were Asch’s findings?
37% of the answers given by the participants were incorrect - they had conformed to the majority
25% of participants never conformed at all, not even once
75% of participants confirmed atleast once
5% confirmed on every critical trial
What are the variables affecting conformity?
Group size
Unanimity of the majority
The difficulty of the task
How does group size affect conformity?
The more people present the more influence they will have over a person so the more likely it is that the person will conform however the rate of the increase decreases with each new person added
How does unanimity of the majority affect conformity?
In Asch’s study the confederates unanimously gave the incorrect answer which influenced the participants answer significantly however when a supporter was present who said the right answer throughout the trials conformity went from 30% to 5%
How does the difficulty of the task affect conformity?
The more difficult the task the more likely a person will conform due to being unsure of what the true answer was
What did crutchfield find?
Crutchfield found that participants would provide the same answer as what they believed other participants were providing even though they knew the answer was incorrect. This study showed that conformity still occurred even when the confederates were not in the same room as the naïve participants
Why are lab conditions bad when researching conformity?
Use of controlled conditions in a laboratory environment means that the research cannot be applied to everyday life therefore the research cannot be generalised
What was McCarthyism and why did it affect conformity?
Asch’s study was conducted in 1956 when America was in the grip of McCarthyism, a strong anti-communist period when people were scared to go against the majority and so were more likely to conform. Perrin and spencer repeated Asch’s study in the U.K. In the 1980s and found that conformity had decreased. This demonstrates that people are more independent now and confident in being different therefore original research into conformity such as Asch’s lacks temporal validity and the conclusions cannot be applied to the behaviour of people today
What are the cultural differences in conformity?
Smith et al analysed the results of Asch’s type studies across a number of different cultures and found an average conformity rate of 25% in individualist cultures (U.K. USA) but 37% in collectivist cultures (Japan africa)
The higher rate of conformity in collectivist cultures could be explained by the fact that these cultures view conformity as a social glue that binds communities together
Therefore the research into conformity must consider cultural differences and how individual beliefs impact the degree to which a person conforms
