Asch Flashcards
(9 cards)
procedure
He set up a situation in which 7 males were all sat looking at a display. They were given the task of saying out loud which one of the 3 lines A, B or C was the same length as the given stimulus line, with the experimenter working his way around the group members in turn. All but one of the participants were confederates, and were sometimes instructed to give the wrong answer. The one genuine participant was last but one to answer.
findings
Asch found that in the control condition (when the participant was on their own), there were 0 incorrect answers given. In the experimental condition, participants gave the wrong answer on 37% of the critical trials. 75% of participants conformed to at least one wrong answer, and 5% of participants conformed to all wrong answers.
group size
Asch found that conformity increases as the size of majority influence increases. When he varied the number of confederates, the conformity rates varied; 1 confederate = 4%, 2 confederates = 14%, 3 confederates = 32%. However, there comes a point where further increases in the size of majority will not lead to a further increase in conformity. Conformity is highest when the majority is 4-5.
unanimity
Asch found that conformity rates decline when majority opinion is not unanimous. He introduced a confederate to the study who went against the other confederates and agreed with the participant, and this decreased conformity to 6%. If the confederate went against the other confederate’s and the participant’s opinion, conformity was 9%. Suggests that breaking the unanimity of the group is enough to reduce conformity.
task difficulty
Asch found that conformity increases as task difficulty increases (making the lines more similar), as the correct answer becomes less obvious. This means that participants will look to others for more guidance.
AO3 - Lucas et al maths problems
Lucas et al asked participants to solve easy or difficult maths problems and found that the participants conformed to 3 other students’ answers if the problems were hard. This therefore provides support that task difficulty is a variable which affects conformity.
AO3 - lack of mundane realism & ecological validity
Asch’s study lacks mundane realism and ecological validity. This is due to the artificial tasks and laboratory set up that do not reflect real-life scenarios of conformity. This therefore makes the results difficult to generalise beyond where they were found, meaning we cannot make assumptions about the effects of variables on conformity in real life situations.
AO3 - culture bias
Asch’s research may be culturally biased. Asch’s participants were from an individualist culture (the U.S.), where independence and self-expression are valued. In collectivist cultures (like China or Japan), group harmony and conformity are often encouraged. As a result, people from collectivist cultures may show higher conformity rates, making Asch’s findings less generalisable across cultures.
AO3 - ethical issues
There are ethical concerns associated with Asch’s study. This is because participants were deceived as to its true nature by being told it was a test of vision rather than conformity. This could have led to stress or embarrassment amongst participants. However, deception was necessary to avoid demand characteristics that would implicate the validity of the study, and Asch claimed participants were debriefed after the study. Therefore the overall benefits outweigh the ethical costs.
