variables affecting conformity as investigated by Asch Flashcards
What were the aims of
Asch’s study’s(1951)?
To measure the extent people conformed to opinions of others even if the answers they gave were clearly wrong.
What were some findings of Asch’s study(1951)?
-naïve participants conformed 36.8% of the time=high level of conformity when situation is unambiguous(certain).
-25% never conformed,75% conformed at least once(individual differences).
How did Asch(1951) find out that certain variables affect conformity?
he conducted further studies which showed certain variables affect conformity more/less.
What’s one variable affecting conformity?
Group size-Asch varied n. of confederates in each group(1-15),the relationship between group size and conformity=curvilinear.
Two confederates
=conformity to wrong answer=13.6% Three confederates
=conformity rose to 31.8% , 3+ confederates didn’t increase conformity any further. People are sensitive to others opinions , one confederate swayed opinion.
What’s another variable affecting conformity?
Unanimity-Asch introduced a dissenting confederate(disagreed with majority).With a dissenter=conformity reduced on average to less than 1/4 of the level it was when majority was unanimous. Conformity reduced even if dissenter gave wrong/right answer. Dissenter present=the
naïve participant behaves more independently.
What’s a final variable affecting conformity?
Task difficulty- Asch made line judging task harder by making stimulus line and comparison line more similar in length=conformity increased.The situation was ambiguous so we are more likely to assume others are correct and we aren’t .This is ISI , when task is harder it plays a larger role.
What was one limitation of Asch’s study’s situation and task(1951)?
The situation and task was artificial-Participants knew they were in a study(demand characteristics).Task=trivial,there was no reason not to conform. Fiske(2014) said Asch’s groups were not like real life groups. Asch’s findings don’t generalise to everyday life.
What’s a limitation of the application of Asch’s study?
Little application-Only american men were tested by Asch .Neto(1955) said women may be more conformist, because social relationships concern them.The US=individualist culture,studies in collectivist cultures(china)=high conformity rates(bond and smith 1996),Aschs findings tell us little about conformity in women and other cultures.
Whats strength of the evidence to support Asch’s study?
Lucas et al(2006)-participants solved hard and easy maths problems,they were given answers that(falsely) claimed to be from 3 other students.Participants conformed more when problems=harder.Shows task difficulty is one variable affecting conformity(Asch said this)
What limitation did lucas et al show that Asch’s study had?
Lucas et al. study showed high confidence=less conformity.This shows individual level factors interact with situational ones, Asch didn’t investigate individual factors.
How was ethics a limitation in Asch’s study?
Ethical issues-Asch’s research told us why people conform, but participants are decieved so they cant give their informed consent to take part=negative experience.But even though there were ethical issues it could be argued that research was justified because there were a wide range of applications.
