SOCIAL INFLUENCE: Asch- Variables Affecting Conformity Flashcards
(18 cards)
Aims of Asch 1951
- he wanted to examine the extent to which social pressure from a majority could affect a person to conform.
Asch 1951 method
Sample : 50 male American students
Deceived to believe they were taking part in a vision test
- Asch used a line judgement task, where he placed the participants in a room with 7 confederates (actors) who had ready decided answers
- real participate was deceived and led to believe that the 7 others were also real participants
Activity: In turn, each person had to say out loud which line (A, B or C) was most like the target line in length
- the correct answer was always obvious.
Each participant completed 18 trials and the confederates gave the same incorrect answer on 12 trials, called critical trials. Asch wanted to see if the real participant would conform to the majority view, even when the answer was clearly incorrect.
What did Asch in 1951 measure
- the number of times each participants conformed to the majority view.
Results of Asch in 1951
- real participants conformed to the incorrect answers on 32% critical trials
- 74% of participants conformed to at least 1 of the critical trials
- 25% of participants never conformed
- 5% conformed EVERY TIME despite the answer being very obviously wrong
- He also used a control group with one real participant completed the same experiment without any confederates, He found that less 1% of participants gave an incorrect answer
Post experiment interviews
Most of the participants knew their answer was incorrect, but went with the group in order to fit in or to avoid being ridiculed.
This confirms that participants conformed due to normative social influence and the desire to fit in.
What were the variables Asch tested in his follow-up studies?
Group size, unanimity, and task difficulty.
How did group size affect conformity in Asch’s studies?
- 1 confederate: 3% conformity
- 2 confederates: 12.8% conformity
- 3 confederates: 32% conformity (same as original study with 7 confederates)
Q: What does Asch’s group size variation demonstrate about conformity?
A: Conformity reaches its highest level with just three confederates; increasing group size beyond that doesn’t significantly increase conformity.
What happened to conformity when a confederate gave the correct answer (unanimity variation)?
Conformity dropped to 5% when a confederate supported the real participant with the correct answer.
. What happened when a confederate gave a different wrong answer (unanimity variation)?
Conformity dropped to 9%, even though the supporter’s answer was still incorrect
What does the unanimity variation demonstrate about conformity?
Breaking the group’s unanimous position significantly reduces conformity, even if the dissenting answer is also incorrect.
: How did increasing task difficulty affect conformity in Asch’s study?
Making the task harder (lines more similar) increased conformity.
Why did conformity increase when task difficulty was raised
Participants experienced INFORMATIONAL SOCIAL INFLUENCE (looking to others for guidance when unsure)
What general rule about task difficulty and conformity did Asch’s study suggest?
The harder the task, the more likely someone is to conform.
NEGATIVE EVALUATIONS 1
What did Perrin and Spencer (1980) find when they repeated Asch’s study with UK engineering students?
Only one student conformed out of 396 trials, suggesting less conformity than in Asch’s original study
This may be because the students have more self confidence than the general public
NEGATIVE EVALUATIONS 1
Why might Asch’s original findings be considered “a child of its time”?
The 1950s were a particularly conformist era in America, making people more likely to conform; society today is likely less conformist.
NEGATIVE EVALUATIOSN 1
What is a limitation related to the era in which Asch’s study was conducted?
The Asch effect may not be consistent across time or cultures, suggesting it isn’t a fundamental aspect of human behavior.
NEGATIVE EVALUATIOSN 1
What is a limitation related to the era in which Asch’s study was conducted?
The Asch effect may not be consistent across time or cultures, suggesting it isn’t a fundamental aspect of human behavior.
