4.1.1 Asch - Conformity Flashcards
What year was the study conducted
Asch 1951
What is the Asch study know as
conformity on an unambiguous task
What was the aim of Asch’s study
to see if people will conform to a majority, even with an obvious answer.
Method of Asch’s study
From a total of 123 all American male participants they where all put into groups of 6-8 where all a but one participants where confederates. They had to answer which line from a group of three matched the control line. The real participants gave their answer last of last but one. Each participant did 18 trails and on 12 of these trials where critical trials. Furthermore there was a control group where participants judged the line lengths in isolation.
What where the results of Asch’s study
In control trials the wrong answer was given 0.7% of the time. In critical trials participants conformed to the majority 37% and 75% conformed at least once. Afterwards some candidates admitted they didn’t really believe their answer but didn’t want to look different.
What was the conclusion of Asch’s study
A certain percentage of People will conform to a majority, even if that majority is wrong. Afterwards, participants said they conformed in order to fit in.
What did Asch’s study find about group size
Asch’s study also found that having a majority of 3/4 to 1 caused conformity to rise around 30%
What where some negative of Asch’s study
- The situation was not natural and therefore lacks ecological validity
- Ethically some of participants in the study may have been embarrassed when they found out about the true nature of the study
- Asch only tested American men of undergraduate age, so it is hard to generalise the results to other populations
What did Asch’s study find about unanimity
Asch found that adding another confederate who disagreed with the majority caused conformity to drop significantly
What was the effect on social support on resistance of conformity
Social support and a dissenter caused rates of conformity in Asch’s study to drop sharply 33% to 5.5%
Allen and Levine saw conformity drop when there was one dissenter in an Asch type study
What was the effect of order of the response
It was found when all participants went last people were more likely to conform when the confederate gave the right answer first
Less likely when the confederate went fourth as they did not have enough time to socially commit
What was the expirment conducted before asch which measure conformity and auto kinetic effect
Sherif set up a lens with a small light which in a dark room seemed to move. This is the auto kinetic effect.
Participants where asked how far the light moved
Participants gave their initial guess and where put into groups of three where they gave a group guess and then indiviauly gave a guess again
What was the results of sheriffs expirment
When participants where retested their guess was similar to the groups
What is some positive evaluation of sherif
Laboratory experiment so variables where strictly controlled
Methods where easy to replicate
What is some negative evaluation of sherif
It was flawed as it had low ecological validity
Limited sample to only males
The use of deception was some what unethical in this study
