Asch's (1956) conformity research Flashcards
Aim of Asch (1956)
To investigate the degree to which social pressure from a majority group could affect a person to conform
How many participants were there?
123 American male student volunteers
What did participants believe the aim was?
A visual perception task therefore deceiving them of the true aim
What experimental design was used?
independent groups design
What type of experiment was it?
Laboratory experiment
What was the confederate to participant proportion like?
Seven to nine confederates and one participant
What was the task?
Decide which comparison line matched the standard line
What was the standardised procedure for confedrerates to do?
12 out of 19 trials they gave the wrong anwser
What did the control group do?
To complete the task alone, deciding for themselves which comparison line matched the standard line
How many times did the participant give the wrong answer?
33%
How many participants conformed at least one wrong answer?
75%
What was the control groups error rate?
0.04%
What were the 3 reasons why participants said they conformed
-Distortion of action
-Distortion of perception
-Distortion of judgement
Distortion of action
Where the majority of participants who conformed did so publicly not privately
Distortion of perception
Where some participants believed their perception might be wrong
