Key Study: Asch (1951) Flashcards
What was the aim?
To see if people will conform to a majority, even with an obvious answer.
What were participants told they would be doing?
A visual perception task
Why did Asch deceive the participants about the task they were doing?
So that they wouldn’t know what the study was actually about, so that results weren’t influenced by demand characteristics.
Who were the participants?
123 American males
How big were the groups and who was in them?
Group size: 6-8
1 true participant & the rest were confederates (their actions were directed by the researcher)
What was the task?
Ps had to answer out loud which line, from a choice of three, matched a control line. The answer was always obvious.
How many trials were there? How many were ‘critical trials’?
18 trials
12 ‘critical trials’ - during these, all confederates would give the same wrong answer.
When did the true participant give their answer?
Last or second-last.
What were the findings of Asch’s study?
36.8% of the answers given by the participants were conforming answers. 75% of Ps conformed at least once.
What was the conclusion of Asch’s study?
People will conform to a majority, even if that majority is wrong.
When interviewed afterwards, what did participants say?
They conformed in order to fit in
What were the 3 variations of Asch’s study?
Group size, Unanimity and Task Difficulty
What did Asch find when group size was manipulated?
Only 3% conformity with 1 confederate
13% conformity with 2 confederates
33% conformity with 3 confederates (did not increase after this)
What did Asch find when unanimity was manipulated?
When the confederate just before the participant gave a different or correct answer, conformity dropped to 5.5%. Participant received emotional support to dissent from the majority.
How did Asch manipulate task difficulty and what did he find?
He made the answer more ambiguous (made the lines closer in length). Conformity increased when the task was more difficult (demonstrates ISI).
