Conformity Flashcards
(16 cards)
Who did research regarding conformity
Asch
What was Asch research procedure
He used 128 male college students, and upon arrival were asked if they could take part in a simple perception task as a prelude to the main study. This wasnt actually true as the ‘simple perception task’ was the main study.
They were sat round a table and had 5 confederates sat in front of the participant and one confederate after the participant. They were then shown an image of 4 lines ( one was labelled A and the others were labelled 1,2,3) and asked which line matches line A. The confederates gave the wrong answer.
What was the Asch research aim
He set up a study in a lab setting and he wanted to investigate weather people would conform or not in an unambiguous situation.
What was the findings for the Asch study
On average 37% fully conformed and 74% conformed at least once
26% never gave 1 wrong answer.
Some comments were made my participants such as “I always disagree, darn it!”
What were the variables that were investigated by asch
Group size- as the group got bigger conformity increased (1 confederates = bellow 5%, 4 confederates = 35%)
Unanimity- this is when they were given another naive particpant and this causes conformity to decrease to 5.5%
Task difficulty- when the task was made harder (lines closer in length) conformity increased.
Strength for asch study
P- lab experiment
E- no distractions, no EVs, no talking therefore they were in a controlled environment and can be repeated
E- standardised procedure
P- supporting research for task difficulty
E- a psychologist gave students hard and easy maths questions and they were given wrong answers by other students. The particpants were more likely to agree with the wrong answer on the harder questions.
E- Asch was correct
HOWEVER- he did also find that those who were less confident with their maths skills are more likely to conform, suggesting its more to do with confidence and not task difficulty
Limitation for Asch study
P- artificial
E- people doesn’t really care about the length of lines, therefore may not have really thought much about conforming to that situation. However had the situation been more deeply associated with belifs and morals would conformity have changed.
E- lacks ecological validity
P- flaws
E- upon arrival they were lied to and deluded from the real study, meaning there was a lack of informed consent due to this. There was also potential for psychological harm, due to them being put in an embarissing situation that could have causes anxiety.
E- ethical issues
What are the types of conformity
Internalisation
Identification
Compliance
Whats internalisation
This is a deep type of conformity and we accept the majority view as correct.
Permanent change
What is identification
This is a moderate type of conformity, where we go along with the group because we don’t want to offend and want to gain social acceptance.
What is compliance
This is a short-term change in behaviour and conformity is temporary as we go along with the group but privately disagree.
What are the explanations of conformity
Normative social influence (NSI)
Informational social influence (ISI)
What is normative social influence
This is when you conform to be liked (temporary)
Whats informational social influence
This is when you conform to be right (permanent)
Strength for the exaplainaiton of conformity
P- supporting research for ISI
E- this was seen in the Asch study when the lines were made closer in length to make the task harder and in the maths questions study
E- conformity is due to seeking infomation as correct
P-supporting research for NSI
E- for example in the baseline asch study, 37% average conformity and 74% confirming at least once, compared to 0.7 in a control group. They then had a debrief after the study and they said they conformed to fit in.
E- NSI is an explanation of conformity
Limiation for the explaination of conformity
P- NSI and ISI doesn’t predict conformity on every case
E- for example some people are more concerned about being liked by others, such as nAffiliators and need a strong feeling of affiliation so means they feel the need to relate to other people
E- individual differences impact conformity u
