Conformity, Asch and Zimbardo Flashcards
(33 cards)
What was Asch’s sample?
123 American male undergraduates.
-The groups contained one real participant and six confederates.
-Each group had the same seating arrangement.
Who suggested the types of conformity?
Kelman (1958)
Asch’s aim?
To investigate the extent to which social pressure from a majority group could affect a person to conform.
What was Asch’s baseline procedure?
Two cards were shown. One had the standard line and the other had three comparison lines.
-Participants were asked which line matched the standard line.
-On the first few trials, all confederates gave the correct answer, but on the third trials the confederates gave the wrong answer. In 12 of the 18 trials the wrong answer was given
What were the baseline findings?
-36.8% of the time the participants gave the wrong answer.
-Overall, 25% did not conform on any of the trials.
-So 75% conformed at least once.
-When interviewed most said they gave the wrong answer to avoid rejection (NSI).
What situational variables were tested?
Group size, unanimity, task difficulty.
group size?
-Varied the number of confederates from 1 to 15.
-He found a curvilinear relationship between group size and conformity rate. The conformity rate increased up to a point then after this point of 3 confederates, the number had little effect.
-Showing that two to three confederates is enough to sway opinion.
Unanimity?
-Tested the presence of a non-conforming person, by introducing a confederate that disagreed with the other confederates.
-The genuine participant conformed less, the rate decreasing to less than a quarter of the baseline level.
-This suggests that the level of conformity depends majorly on unanimity.
Task difficulty?
-He increased the difficulty of the line judging task by making the comparison lines more similar.
-He found that conformity increased, which may be because the situation is more ambiguous when the task is harder. Participants believed the confederates were right. This shows ISI.
Evaluation: temporal validity?
Conducted at the end of the 1950s when America was experiencing ‘McCarthyism’ which was assumed conformity due to the threats of communism. Findings may not be relevant today because independent behaviour is more prominent.
Evaluation: artificial setting?
Could lead to demand characteristics therefore some conformity may not have been genuine. Low ecological validity as would not know how people would conform in real life settings.
Evaluation: ethical issues?
Participants were deceived and could have felt embarrassed and tricked that they gave into group pressure and knowingly gave the wrong answers.
Evaluation: shows more non-conformity?
Two thirds of the time, participants did not conform, suggesting the study shows more independent behaviour. Conclusions could be incorrect.
Evaluation: lack of cultural validity?
Smith et al (2006) analysed Asch types studies across different cultures. Conformity was 25% for individualist cultures and 30% for collectivists. This is explained by conformity being a normal and accepted behaviour in collectivist cultures that help bring people together.
Evaluation: lack of mundane realism?
Judging a line is trivial and not a real life task. Less concerned with conforming because of no real life consequence. When the study was replicated with engineering students, conformity was almost non-existent. Do results have relevance in everyday life?
What is conformity?
The tendency to change what we do, say and think to respond to the influence of real or imagined pressure.
What is compliance?
Going along with others in public but in private views and behaviours are unchanged. Change in behaviour is only superficial, and when the pressure stops, the behaviour stops. Example- crossing on a red man because everyone else is.
What is identification?
When the individual goes along with others because they value something in the group and want to be associated with that group/person. They publicly change behaviour but privately may not agree. Example- Learning to play football because your new friends like it.
What is internalisation?
When the individual has genuinely accepted/adopted the views of the group so results in a private and public change in behaviour. Usually a permanent change. Example- Converting to Buddhism from Christianity.
Who suggested the explanations for conformity?
Deutsch and Gerald (1955)
What are the explanations for conformity?
–Normative social influence- The desire to be accepted and liked. An emotional process. Happens in situations with strangers where you are concerned about being rejected, and with friends because of the need for social approval.
–Informational social influence- Desire to be right. It is a cognitive process. Happens in an ambiguous or new situation.
Evaluation of NSI?
–NSI: Linkenbach and Perkins (2003)- identified that teenagers exposed to a simple message saying most young people did not smoke were subsequently less likely to take up smoking.
–NSI: Schultz et al (2008)- hotel guests that were exposed to a message saying 75% of guests reuse their towels, reduced towel use by 25%.
Evaluation of ISI?
–ISI: Lucas et al (2006)- asked students to give answers to easy or difficult maths problems. There was greater conformity when the problems were difficult, showing people conform more in unclear situations.
–ISI: Jenness (1932)- participants estimated how many jelly beans were in a jar. He found the individual estimates moved towards the estimates of others, showing they genuinely believed the others to be correct.
Limitations of explanations?
-Often hard to establish whether it is NSI or ISI in play. Apply to Asch.
-Some people are nAffiliators, with the strong need to affiliate. McShee and Teevan found that these people were more likely to conform, The individual differences in NSI cannot be explained by these explanations, therefore lacks credibility.
