Variables affecting conformity

Question 1

what are situational variables?

Answer 1

features of an environment that affect the degree to which individuals yield to group pressures

Question 2

what are the situational variables that affect conformity?

Answer 2

size of group, unanimity, task difficulty

Question 3

how does size of group affect conformity?

Answer 3

conformity rates increase as the size of majority influence increases to a certain extent

Question 4

what is Asch’s research on size of group?

Answer 4

1 pp & 1 confer - conformity was low, rose to 13% with 2 confeds & 32% with 3 confeds - adding further (up to 15) had no further effect on the overall conformity rate

Question 5

how does unanimity affect conformity?

Answer 5

conformity rates decline when majority influence isn’t unanimous - reduction in majority’s agreement rather than being given support for their opinions

Question 6

what did Asch find about unanimity?

Answer 6

if there was 1 confederate who went against the other confeds, conformity dropped from 32% to 5.5% but if the rebel went against both confeds & real pp, conformity still dropped to 9%

Question 7

how does task difficulty affect conformity?

Answer 7

greater conformity rates seen when task difficulty increases as right answer becomes less obvious

Question 8

what is Asch’s research about task difficulty?

Answer 8

made comparison lines more similar - when he did that people were more likely to conform