Aschs Studies (1951)

• In what year did Asch begin his series of experiments on conformity?


  1951
• What was the main task given to subjects in Asch's experiments?


  To match a standard line with one of the comparison lines
• How many American male undergraduates participated in Asch's experiments?


  123
• What was the composition of the groups in which subjects were tested?

  Groups consisted of 7 to 9 individuals, with only one real subject
• Who were the confederates in Asch's experiments?


  They were accomplices of Asch instructed to give the same wrong answers
• What were the "critical trials" in Asch's experiments?


  Trials where confederates gave the same wrong answers
• How did the naive participant perceive the other group members?


  The naive participant was unaware that the others were confederates
• How was the seating arrangement of the subjects designed in Asch's experiments?


  The real subject was always seated last to answer
• How many trials were conducted to identify the length of the standard line?

  18 trials
• procedure 


  on six neutral trials, the Confederate all gave the right answer, but on the other 12 trials, they on unanimously gave the same wrong answer.
• findings


  Participants conformed on 32% of the critical. They were also wide, individual differences:Participants conformed on 32% of the critical. They were also wide, individual differences:

  •25% never conformed at all, remaining independent throughout the critical trials.

  •The majority of participants 75% conformed at least once.

  given how:

  •Unambiguous

  •Few three were made by controlled subjects in the pilot study- they conformed less than 1% of the time.

  Such findings indicate a high level of conformity.
• Variables affecting conformity – intro


  Asch was interested in high variations to situational factors lead to an increase or decrease in levels of conformity
• what did Asch do


  Asch subsequently varied the basic situation and manipulated different variables in order to see what the crucial influence on conformity were
• Group size- what he changed/vary


  In one set of variations, Asch manipulated the size of the group by varying the number of confederates carrying out the conformity trial. using 1,2,3,4,8, 10 and 15 in the group
• does the rate of conformity go on increasing as the group size goes on increasing?

  It seems not.
• what happens when there is one confederate and one subject? Findings


  Where there is a real subject and just one confederate the conformity rate is very low indeed -3% changing their view to that of the confederate. This is because it’s a simple task of the participants ““ against the other
• what happens if there are two confederates and one subject? Findings

  Where there are two and one subject conformity begins to increase about 13%
• What is the conformity level reached with three confederates and one subject?

  32%
• What happens to conformity levels after three confederates?


  Conformity levels tend to plateau.
• If there are 16 confederates to one real subject, what is the expected outcome regarding conformity?


  It does not produce more conformity than the ratio of three to one.
• What does the finding about confederates suggest regarding group influence?


  Unanimity of the group is more important than the actual size of the group.
• What is more important for conformity: consensus or numbers?


  Consensus is what matters, not the number of confederates.
• What is stated about a small majority in terms of influence?


  A small majority is not sufficient for influence to be exerted.
• Is there a need for a majority of more than three confederates to exert influence?


  No, there is no need for a majority of more than three.
• What is unanimity? 


  unanimity is the extent to which all the members of the group agree
• what happens in Asch’s original study? And what did this produce?


  In Asch’s original study, the Confederates unanimously gave the same wrong answer when they selected the same comparison line

  the unanimous majority produced the greatest degree of conformity in the naive participants (i.e. conformity levels increased).
• what did Asch wonder?


  Asch wondered if the unanimity of the group made the naive participants feel isolated, increasing the tendency to conform.
• how did Asch investigate this?


  Asch sometimes positioned a confederate (a dissenter) around the table just before the real participant instructing them to give the correct answer on the critical trials.
• why is this significant and what is the effect of another member of the group agreeing with the real participant? What is crucial? Analysis

  This would be a different answer to the and the same answer as the real participant

  The presence of a DISSENTER who did not conform decreased from 32% to 5.5%

  What seems to be breaking unanimity of the majority.
• what did he change in the original experiment

  In Asch‘s original experiment, the task of judging lying length was extremely easy.
• how did he manipulate this?

  As Asch reduced the clarity of the task (making the right answer less obvious) or increased its difficulty (making the comparison line more similar in length), the levels of conformity increased.

  when the correct answer was obvious of conformity decreased.
• further evidence


  Sistrunk and McDavid also find that the less familiar we are task demands, the more likely we are to conform.

  They asked men and women to identify kitchen utensils and tools respectively.
• what did they discover? What does this suggest? Why is this? Analysis

  They discovered that women are more likely to conform to group pressure on task involving identification of tools (such as wrenches), whereas men are more likely to conform on tasks involving the identification of cooking utensils.

  This suggests that informational social influence (the desire to be right) plays a greater role when the task becomes harder.

  this is because we are less sure of the right answer, so to look to other people for guidance and assume that they are right and we are wrong.
• evaluation of studies including ethical and methodological issues
• what method does the study of conformity use? Strength and methodological issues.

  The study of conformity uses the scientific method to investigate how individuals are influenced by the actual or imagined presence of others
• Why is this the preferred method?

  Experimentation is the preferred method as this is the best way to study cause and effect.
• Key examples

  Asch experiment can be seen as an example of the rigorous standards required in psychological research.

  The laboratory setting gave Asch the chance to manipulate a range of independent variables- this allowed us to establish cause and effect as this is the best way.
• How else did Asch’s conformity research illustrate the features of science? Strength and example


  Asch’s findings led to the development of explanations (theories) of conformity

  for example, that people will conform to group pressure to avoid ridicule normative social influence
• What was the main hypothesis tested in Asch's conformity research?


  Naive participants would conform to an obvious wrong answer under group pressure.
• How did Asch manipulate the independent variable in his research?


  By providing fake or genuine answers from confederates.