Conformity Flashcards
What is conformity?
A change in a person’s behaviour or opinions as a result of real or imagined pressure from a person/group of people
Explain Asch’s baseline procedure
- 123 American male ps, each in a group with other ‘participants’
- each p saw 2 large white cards with a standard line on 1st card (X) and three other comparison lines on the 2nd card (A, B, C)
- one of the comparison lines was clearly the same length as X
- on each trial, ps were asked to state out loud which of the comparison lines matched X
Explain the physical arrangement of ps in Asch’s study
- groups of 6-8
- only one was a genuine p
- genuine p was always seated last or 6th
- everyone else was a confederate and gave scripted answers each time e
Explain Asch’s baseline findings
On average, the genuine participants agreed with the confederates’ incorrect answer 36.8% of the time
25% of ps never gave a wrong answer
What individual variables were investigated by Asch?
Group size
Unanimity
Task Difficulty
How did Asch investigate the variable group size?
He varied no. confederates 1-15
What were Asch’s findings from investigating group size
He found a curvilinear relationship between group size and conformity- conformity increased with group size but only up to a certain point
Just 2-3 people is enough to significantly increase conformity
>3 doesn’t have a significant impact
How did Asch’s investigate the variable of Unanimity?
He introduced a confederate that disagreed with the other confederates
This confederate either gave the correct answer of another wrong answer
What were Asch’s findings from the Unanimity investigation?
Conformity decrease to <10%- dissenter had a powerful social influence
This suggests that the influence of the majority depends largely on it being unanimous
How did Asch’s investigate the variable Task difficulty?
He increased the difficulty of the line task: made the ABC comparison lines more similar to each other
What were Asch’s findings from the Task difficulty investigation?
- Conformity increased- the situation was more ambiguous
- This demonstrates informational social influence
- When the correct answer is less obvious people are more likely to follow the lead of others
Generalisability of Asch’s study (-)
Lacks generalisability
- Asch only worked with Male, American ps
- The same results may not have been found if ps with different characteristics were tested (diff gender, cultural background)
therefore Asch’s study is weak because the findings may not be representative of the wider population
Reliability of Asch’s study (+)
Very reliable- can be replicated
- He used a standardised procedure
- Same cards used for all ps
- Same seating plan
therefore the study can be assessed for consistency to ensure the results were not anomalous
Application of Asch’s study (+)
Can be applied to reduce mindless destructive conformity and make society safer
- e.g encouraging whistleblowers to report inappropriate behaviours in the workplace- breaks unanimity
therefore this is a strength because the variation of breaking unanimity has led to opportunities to break harmful conformity
Validity of Asch’s study (-)
This study lacks ecological validity
- ps were aware of a study so may have guessed the aim/shown demand characteristics
- the comparing lines task was not an everyday task
this is a weakness because the task was artificial and conducted in a uncomfortable environment with no serious consequences of conformity presented
