Variables affecting conformity - Asch Flashcards
describe the participants in Asch’s study
- 123 male American undergraduates
- groups of 6
- 1 true ppt
- 5 confederates
what was the aim of Asch’s study?
to investigate conformity and majority influence
how many lines were the ppts presented with?
4 lines
3 comparison & 1 standard
what were the ppts asked to state?
which 3 of the lines was the same legnth as the stimulus line
when did the real participant answer?
last or second to last
how often would confederates give the same incorrect answer?
12 out of 18 times
what did Asch observe?
how often the participants would give the same incorrect answer as the confederates vs the correct answer
how many conformed?
36.8%
how many never conformed?
25%
how many conformed at least once?
75%
what were the findings of Asch’s study?
- 36.8% conformed
- 25% never conformed
- 75% conformed at least once
- In a control trial, only 1% of ppt responses were incorrect
name the 3 factors affecting level of conformity
- group size
- unanimity of majority
- task difficulty
PEEL: when is someone more likely to confom?
(group size) - not ao3
P: more likely to conform when in a larger group
E: there was low conformity when confederates were less than 3- any more than 3 & conformity rose to 30%
E: increases their confidence in correctness of the group & decrease confidence in their own answer
- conformity doesn’t increase in groups larger than 4 = optimal size
L: TST majority must be at least 3 to exert an influence but doesn’t require an overwhelming majority
PEEL: when is someone more likely to conform?
(unanimity) - not ao3
P: more likely to conform when the group is unanimous
E: when joined by another ppt or dissaffected confederate who gave correct answer, conformity fell from 32% to 5.5%
- if different answers are given conformity falls from 32% to 9%
- E: the more confidence the ppt will have that they’re all correct & decrease confidence in their own answer
L: unanimity + consistent majority view
provides NSI to prevent conflicting views
PEEL: when is someone more likely to conform?
(task difficulty) not ao3
P: more likely to conform when task is difficult
E: Asch made the lines more similar in length
E: more unsure of our answer so look to others for confirmation
L: ISI
what is a limitation of Asch’s research? (PEE)
- ethical issues
eg. ppts were not protected from psychological harm - may have been stressed whne disagreeing with majority + Asch decieved the student volunteers claiming it was a vision test
TMB he was not respecting his ppts whpo offered to take part in his research, but decpetion was nescessary for valid results
what is a limitation of Asch’s research? (PEE)
- low ecological validity
eg .In the experiment he used an artificial task to measure conformity - judging line lengths. Judging line lengths is a task that most people would not normally do in their everyday lives
TMB the results cannot be generalized to other real life situations of conformity. If his study was done using a ‘real life’ situation/task, we may have got different results.
what is a limitation of Asch’s study? (PEE)
- biased sample
eg. all were American male university students , same sex, age group + occupation
TMB this means that study lacks population validity and that the results cannot be generalized to females or older groups of people
what is a limitation of Asch’s research? (PEE)
- may not be true today
may not be true today as research was conducted whne conformity was high.
eg. Perrin and Spencer conducted a si ilar study in the UK in 1980s- found only 1 conforming response out of 396 trials
TMB Asch’s research could be regarded as a ‘child of its time’ + have low historical validity
