Research Into Conformity

Question 1

What was the aim of Asch’s research

Answer 1

To investigate whether a majority can influence a minority in a situation which is unambiguous and the correct answer is obvious

Question 2

What was Asch’s experiment procedure

Answer 2

• 123 male students took part in the experiment
• 7 people looking at the line diagram but only 1 wasn’t a confederate. (6 confederates)
• The genuine participant was always the second to/last to offer an answer
• The confederates were all instructed to give the same but wrong answer unamiously

Question 3

What were the results from Asch’s experiment ?

Answer 3

The genuine participant conformed on 32% of the trial overall
75% of the participants conformed on at least one occasion - many admitted that they had yeiled to the majority influence because the didn’t want to stand out. (An example of compliance as they publically agreed wtih the group but privatley disagreed to avoid group pressure)

Question 4

What can be concluded from Asch’s research ?

Answer 4

That a majority can influence a minority group to give a wrong answer, even in an unambiguous situation in which the correct answer is obvious.
Asch showed convincingly that imaginary pressure to conform in terms of majority influence is much stronger than he previously thought.

Question 5

what was the aim of Sherif’s research

Answer 5

to see whether people conform to group norms when they are put in an ambiguous situation

Question 6

what was the method for Sherif’s research

Answer 6

• involved the autokinetic effect (an illusion where a projected spot of light appears to move but isn’t)
• estimated of how far the light moved varied considerably, especially when asked to make individual estimations
• ppts were tested in groups of 3. each person had to say outloud how far they thought the light moved

Question 7

what were the results of Sherif’s research

Answer 7

• the group moved to the common estimation - the more estimates given , the simular the estimates became
• people always tended to conform , came to a group decison rather than an individual one

Question 8

what can be concluded from Sherif’s research

Answer 8

• when in an ambigous situation a person will look to others for guidance Eg: adopt a group norm
• example of informational conformity

Question 9

strengths: methodological

Answer 9

I: methodological strengths of confomrity research as it is based on labatory experiements
E: the experiments are high in reliability beucase both studies use highly standardised procedures Eg: in Asch every ppts experienced the same line matching task, had same 6 confederates
C: means conformity research has scientific credibility in explaining majority influence

Question 10

weakness: temporal

Answer 10

I: conformity research is low in tempoal validity
E: Asch and Sheriff’s research is critised for not reflecting conformit behaviour in todays soceity due to the time era in which it was conducted
Eg: Asch’s OG experiment was conducted in the 1950’s a d is accused of being a ‘child of its time’. his findings could be a reflection os social and historical aspectsof this time, as citizens were naturally more afriad of being differnt and therfore more conformist. known as ‘McCarthyism America’
C: we cannot genrealise findings about majority influence from conformity dtudies to modern day society, as it is likely that there will be redduced conformity

Question 11

weakness: low ecological & mundane

Answer 11

I: experimetns have been critised for being lowin ecological validty and mundane realism
E: tasks were artifical situations in a lab setting requring ppts judgemnt about line judgments and esrimation of light movement
these are tasks you wouldnt be required to do in everyday life with strangers, has no real consequences of not conforming making the risk of demand characteristics more probable
C: cannot generalise findings about majority influence from conformity research to other settings as they may not reflect how people confrom in real life

Question 12

weakness: cultural

Answer 12

I: Asch’s research is accused of cultural relativism
E: Aschs og study was conducted in america (an individualistic culture), can be critised of not reflecting conformity in other collectivist cultures
smith and bonds meta anlysis of 133 confomity studies across 17 countires found average level of conformity to be 31% (slightly lower than Asch’s). Fiji (collective) has a rate of 58% compared to Belglum (Individualistic) at a rate of 14%
C: cannot generalise the findings of Aschs research to other cultures. collectivist cultures conform more as they are used to putting others needs above their own