02 Variables Affecting Conformity

Question 1

● What was the conformity rate in Asch’s original study?

Answer 1

37%

Question 2

✪ Why might people in collectivist cultures show higher conformity than in Asch’s research?

Answer 2

Social group is more important, so they may conform more to be liked.

Question 3

● What is group size in conformity research?

Answer 3

Size of the majority group

Question 4

● What does Asch’s research investigate?

Answer 4

Effects of a majority opinion on individual judgments

Question 5

● What type of variable is group size?

Answer 5

Situational variable

Question 6

● What was the conformity rate when the dissenter gave a different wrong answer?

Answer 6

9%

Question 7

● What happens to conformity as group size increases?

Answer 7

It increases then plateaus

Question 8

● Who researched the effect of task difficulty on conformity?

Answer 8

Lucas et al.

Question 9

● In Asch’s study, how many critical trials were there?

Answer 9

12

Question 10

● What type of experiment did Asch use?

Answer 10

Lab experiment

Question 11

▲ Why did conformity increase when the lines were made more similar?

Answer 11

The task was harder and the answer was less obvious

Question 12

▲ Which variation led to the highest drop in conformity?

Answer 12

Dissenter giving correct answers

Question 13

▲ Why did participants conform in Asch’s study even when they thought the answer was wrong?

Answer 13

To avoid ridicule

Question 14

● What is the effect of having one confederate?

Answer 14

Conformity was 3%

Question 15

✪ How does the culture bias in Asch’s research limit generalisability of his findings?

Answer 15

It was conducted in an individualistic culture (America), so may not apply to collectivist cultures.

Question 16

● What was the conformity rate with three confederates?

Answer 16

32%

Question 17

● What happened when task difficulty increased?

Answer 17

Conformity increased

Question 18

✪ How does the cultural context challenge the universality of Asch’s findings?

Answer 18

Bond and Smith found collectivist cultures show higher conformity than Western cultures.

Question 19

● What happens to conformity when unanimity is broken?

Answer 19

Conformity decreases

Question 20

● In Asch’s study, what was the stimulus line labelled?

Answer 20

X

Question 21

▲ In Lucas et al.’s study, who conformed less on hard problems?

Answer 21

Participants with high confidence

Question 22

● What was the conformity rate when a dissenter gave correct answers?

Answer 22

5.5%

Question 23

● How many participants were in Asch’s original study?

Answer 23

123 American male students

Question 24

✪ Why does Asch’s research fail to consider individual differences?

Answer 24

He did not examine how confidence levels affect conformity like Lucas et al. did.

Question 25

▲ What variable explains why someone might conform more in a harder task?

Answer 25

Informational Social Influence

Question 26

● What does task difficulty refer to?

Answer 26

How hard the task is

Question 27

● In Asch’s study, how many comparison lines were shown?

Answer 27

Three

Question 28

▲ What does Asch’s study suggest about the power of the majority?

Answer 28

It influences individuals even when they know the answer

Question 29

● What does unanimity mean?

Answer 29

Complete agreement among group members

Question 30

✪ Why does Lucas et al.’s study suggest task difficulty alone is not a full explanation of conformity?

Answer 30

Because participants with high confidence conformed less, showing individual-level factors interact with task difficulty.

Question 31

▲ What does the plateau in conformity beyond three confederates suggest?

Answer 31

Majority size only affects conformity to a point

Question 32

▲ How does increasing task difficulty affect levels of conformity?

Answer 32

Increases conformity

Question 33

▲ What factor interacts with task difficulty in affecting conformity?

Answer 33

Confidence in ability

Question 34

✪ Why is Asch’s conformity research considered low in external validity due to gender?

Answer 34

Only males were tested; females might be more conformist, so findings can't generalise.

Question 35

▲ Why does breaking unanimity reduce conformity?

Answer 35

It shows others can resist and breaks group consensus

Question 36

● What kind of maths problems did Lucas et al. use?

Answer 36

Easy and hard

Question 37

▲ Why does a lone dissenter reduce conformity?

Answer 37

It breaks group unanimity and encourages independence

Question 38

▲ What type of conformity was shown by participants in Asch’s study?

Answer 38

Compliance