Factors affecting conformity

• 3 factors

  • group size
  • unanimity
  • task difficulty
• Group size

  • 1 confederate - conformity is 3%
  • 2 confederate - conformity is 13%
  • 3 confederate - conformity is 33%
  • then about the same until 15, at 15 people are suspicious
• Dissenter is a deserter
• In both cases, Asch added a dissenter, conformity decreased to 5.5%

  • correct answer, increase p confidence
  • different wrong answer, breaks united front
• Task difficulty

  • Asch made the lines more similar in height to make the task harder
  • increases conformity due to people being insecure
• AO3

  • strength, excellent science, manipulation of variables systematically
  • weakness, ethics low, idea of deception this is due to the fact that the people do not know about what the experiment is for