Asch's variations

Question 1

How did Asch introduce variation into his line experiment through group size?

Answer 1

total group size was varied from 2-16

Question 2

How did Asch introduce variation into his line experiment through task difficulty?

Answer 2

Asch made the stimulus line and the comparison line more similar in length

Question 3

How did Asch introduce variation into his line experiment through social support (unanimity)?

Answer 3

Asch introduced a second confederate that disagreed with the others - both with right and wrong answers

Question 4

What was the effect of Asch’s variations with group size on conformity?

Answer 4

• with 3 confederates conformity rose to 31.8%
• the presence of more than 3 confederates made little difference to conformity
• after the presence of 7 confederates, conformity started to decrease

Question 5

Why did conformity decrease after Asch introduced 7+ confederates?

Answer 5

The subjects began to expect the possibility that the line experiment was a set up

Question 6

What was the effect of Asch’s variations with task difficulty on conformity?

Answer 6

As task difficulty increased, so did conformity. This is due to the situation being more ambiguous.

Question 7

When Asch increased task difficulty, which type of social influence dramatically increases?

Answer 7

Informational Social Influence