Social Influence- Asch Variables affecting conformity

Question 1

Describe Asch 1951 experiment

Answer 1

-COVERT STUDY
-tested w 7-9 confederates
-2 WHITE CARDS DISPLAYED
-1st card showed the standard line
-2nd card 3 comparison lines w/ 1 length the same as the standard
-on 12 critical trials, confederates gave the wrong answers

Question 2

Ps were told they were..

Answer 2

taking part in a ‘visual perception task’

Question 3

Asch’s (1951) Results

Answer 3

-conformity was 32% compared to 0.04% for a control group
-w/ 75% of people conforming at least once
-and 5% conforming at all 12 times

Question 4

What are the 3 variables?

Answer 4

GUT

Group size
Unanimity
Task Difficulty

Question 5

Variable 1: Group size

Answer 5

Asch found that only :
3% of conformity w/ 1 confederate
13% w/ 2 confederates
33% w/ 3 confederates

Not increasing beyond this % when group became any larger

Question 6

Variable 2: Unanimity

Answer 6

-if a confederate just before P disagrees (and so does p internally) w/ the majority & gives the correct answer
-conformity drops to 5.5%

=this may give the P emotional support to DISSENT

-this dissenting voice has potential to break unanimity of majority’s opinion

Question 7

Variable 3: Task difficulty

Answer 7

Asch made the difference between the line lengths much smaller
-found that conformity increased when the task was more difficult
-this is an ISI effect (informational social influence effect)

Question 8

Give studies which can be used to evaluate Asch’s variables affecting conformity

Answer 8

Perrin & Spencer 1980
(critical)

Rosander (2011)
(supporting)

Question 9

Give a critical study

Answer 9

Perrin & Spencer 1980

Question 10

Give a supporting study

Answer 10

Rosander (2011)

Question 11

Perrin & Spencer 1980

Answer 11

-replicated Asch’ study
-with British Engineering Students
-found in over 396 tials, only 1 conformed

=This means Asch’s study may suffer from temporal validity, it MAY have been true in 1950s USA when there was significant political pressure to conform due to COLD WAR

Question 12

Perrin & Spencer 1980

EVALUATION:
This means…

Answer 12

=This means Asch’s study may suffer from temporal validity, it MAY have been true in 1950s USA when there was significant political pressure to conform due to COLD WAR

Question 13

Perrin & Spencer 1980

Opposing statement

Answer 13

HOWEVER:

due to engineering students being used in this task, they’re more familiar w/ measurements than the general population= BIASED SAMPLE

Question 14

Rosander (2011)

Answer 14

-used facebook & twitter (+other online) communities to investigate task difficulty in conformity
-logic & general knowledge qs were posted for Ps to answer
-online confederates provided wrong answers to half of the Ps
-results showed Ps conformed to wrong answers and increase in conformity w/ more difficult qs

Question 15

Extra Evaluation point for ROSANDER (2011)

Answer 15

This study demonstrates Asch’s RS. is still relevant today and even when not face-to-face the desire to conform for normative social reasons is still present

Question 16

More evaluation
(3 main criticisms of Asch’s Line Length Study)

Answer 16

-Confederates in Asch’s study were not actors, Ps may have pretended to conform because Ps may have thought that was what was expected of them=ASCH STUDY MAY HAVE SUFFERED FROM DEMAND CHARACTERISTICS

-only men were used in Asch’s study, therefore it may have suffered from beta bias and ANDROCENTRISM perspective

Mundane realism- not an everyday task