Asch

• what was the aim in Asch‘s experiment?

  To investigate the degree to which individuals conform to a majority who gave obviously wrong answers
• What was the procedure of Asch‘s experiment?

  American male participants who volunteered to take part. Their task was to publicly identify which of the three comparison lines matched the standard line.

  • groups of 8 but only one was a ppt the rest were confederates.
  • 12 critical trials (out of 18), confederates answered incorrectly to if ppts would conform
• what were the results of Asch's experiment?

  overall conformity rate was 32%

  • 75% conformed at least once
  • 5% conformed in all 12 trials
• what is the conclusion that explains why ppts conformed so easily?

  their judgement was affected by the majority's opinion even though the answer was clearly wrong. most conformed publicly so they conformed due to NSI to avoid rejection from the group.
• what were the four variations on his original procedure?

  1. group size
  2. unanimity
  3. task difficulty
  4. giving answers in private
• how did group size affect conformity?

  varied the number of confederates and noticed rate of conformity did not increase after three confederates were added

  • small unanimous group has a strong social pressure
• what effect did unanimity have on conformity?

  one confederate was instructed to give the correct response, breaking groups unanimity.

  • conformity rate dropped to 5.5% due to social support
• how did task difficulty affect rate of conformity?

  made the task more ambiguous by reducing the difference between the line lengths which increased uncertainty

  • conformity increased due to ISI
• what happened when participants gave their answers in private

  conformity rate decreased
• how did Asch's experiment have high internal validity ✔

  • controlled standardised procedure which gave each ppts the same experience

  eg. all ppts viewed the same lines in the same order with the same response from confederates
• how does his experiment lack temporal validity?

  Perrin & Spencer (1981): replicated the study with British students and found a lower conformity rate - one trial out of 396
• what did Bond (1996) say about the pressure to conform in terms of cultural backgrounds?

  pressure to conform is not universal but influenced by cultural backgrounds.

  • high rates of conformity in collectivists culture which prioritise consensus
  • lower rates in individualistic societies that value independence
• what is another weakness for Asch's experiment

  lacks mundane realism.

  • high controlled study that limits extraneous variables but does not replicate real life social interactions
• how does his research support NSI explanations for conformity

  • 75% conformed at least once despite answer being obvious. further supported by a variation where conformity decreased to 12.5% when ppts gave answers privately
• how does his research support ISI explanation for conformity?

  in one variation he manipulated task difficulty meaning ppts were unsure of the correct answer and were more likely to rely on the judgement of others
• give one alternative explanation to conformity other than ISI and NI

  dispositional factors.

  • nAffiliators have a strong desire to be liked as they are more sensitive to social rejection = more likely to conform.
  • those with a external locus of control as they do not believe in their ability to make their own judgment and decisions.