2 - Conformity: Asch's Research

Question 1

When was Asch’s original study?

Answer 1

1951

Question 2

What was the aim of Asch’s original study?

Answer 2

To investigate the extent to which individuals conform (to an unambiguous task)

Question 3

What was the sample of Asch’s original study?

Answer 3

123 American male undergraduates

Question 4

Outline the procedure for Asch’s original study

Answer 4

• Ppt in group with 6-8 confederates
• Ppt sat in last or penultimate position
• 18 trials: had to choose which of the three comparison lines matched the standard line + say answer out loud
• 12 of the trials were ‘critical’: majority of confederates gave incorrect answer, to see if ppt would conform

Question 5

What is the ‘Asch effect’?

Answer 5

Conforming in an unambiguous situation

Question 6

Outline the findings of Asch’s original study

Answer 6

• Naive ppt gave wrong answer (conformed) 32% of times
• 75% of ppts conformed at least once
• Most ppts said they complied due to NSI - but continued to trust themselves privately

Question 7

What did Asch conclude from his original study?

Answer 7

Individuals do conform, even in unambiguous situations

Question 8

What is a confederate?

Answer 8

Individual in experiment who is a fake ppt - acting under instructions

Question 9

What is a naive ppt?

Answer 9

Participant partaking in study, who has no knowledge of study’s true purpose

Question 10

When did Asch complete the variations of his original study?

Answer 10

Mid-late 1950s

Question 11

What was the aim of Asch’s variation studies?

Answer 11

To investigate the extent to which changing the characteristics of a situation impacts the extent to which an individual conforms

Question 12

What were the three variations Asch made to his original study?

Answer 12

• Group size (varied size between 1 and 15)
• Unanimity (added a dissenting confederate - sometimes truthful, sometimes gave a diff incorrect answer)
• Task difficulty (made the task harder by making line lengths more similar)

Question 13

Outline the results and conclusion of Asch’s group size variation study

Answer 13

• 1 confederate: 3% conformity
• 2 confederates: 13.6% conformity
• 3 confederates: 31.8% conformity
• Any more confederates made little difference
  (Conformity increases with size of majority, up to a point: 3)

Question 14

What did Hogg + Vaughan say (1995)?

Answer 14

The group size that elicits most conformity is 3-5

• Conformity increases up to 3
• Conformity may decrease over 5, if individual suspects collusion

Question 15

Outline the results and conclusion of Asch’s unanimity variation study

Answer 15

• Dissenter giving incorrect answer: conformity fell to 9%
• Dissenter giving correct answer: conformity fell to 5%
  (Conformity is greatest when the group is unanimous, as a dissenter gives the individual confidence to behave independently)

Question 16

Outline the results and conclusion of Asch’s task difficulty variation study

Answer 16

• Task difficulty increase: rise in conformity

Conformity increases with task difficulty, as ISI is more prevalent in the more ambiguous situation

Question 17

Give 2 positive evaluation point for Asch’s studies

Answer 17

Methodology increased internal validity

• Unambiguous task, ensured conformity being measured
• Clearly unambiguous as control condition made mistakes less than 1% of times, so ppts’ mistakes were due to conformity
• So the research validly measured conformity

Ethical issues very low

• Naive ppts were deceived (didn’t know about true aim or confederates)
• Example of research in which deception had very low impact on ppts
• Ppts remained safe + benefits of research appear greater than risks
• BUT - Bogdonoff et al (1961) found evidence of autonomic arousal (linked to stress) in similar evidence, so may have caused some harm

Question 18

Give 2 negative evaluation points for Asch’s studies

Answer 18

Methodology lacked mundane realism, reducing generalisability

• Situation + task were trivial and artificial
• Hard to generalise findings + say ppts would act the same in an everyday situation with real implications

Sample lacked temporal + population validity
- Temporal: in 1950s USA (conformist time)
- Population: American - Smith + Bond (1998) said collectivist cultures will conform more
Men - Neto (1995) said women conform more
- So results may not be generalisable to how the whole world would act today