Conformity asch

    Cards (14)

    • What was the aim of Asch's conformity study?
      To find out if the majority of people would conform to an obviously wrong answer
    • What type of experiment was conducted in Asch's study?
      A lab experiment in a controlled environment
    • What was the independent variable (IV) in Asch's study?

      What the actors said
    • What was the dependent variable (DV) in Asch's study?
      What the real participants say
    • What were the procedures followed in Asch's conformity study?
      • 123 male psychology undergraduates from America
      • Split into groups of 6-8, with one real participant and the rest confederates
      • Participants asked to identify which line length was closest when it was obvious
      • 18 trials, with confederates giving wrong answers in 12 of them
    • What percentage of the time did naive participants give the wrong answer?
      36.8%
    • What percentage of participants conformed at least once in Asch's study?
      75%
    • Why did most participants conform in Asch's study?
      To avoid rejection
    • What are the limitations of Asch's study regarding population validity?
      • Participants were all American male students
      • Other research suggests women may be more conformist
      • Findings may not generalize to women or other cultures
    • How does individualism in American culture affect conformity according to Asch's findings?
      • The USA is an individualistic culture
      • Less concern for social groups compared to collectivist cultures
      • May lead to lower conformity rates
    • What is the ecological validity issue in Asch's study?
      • The task was artificial
      • Participants knew they were in a research study
      • May have influenced their responses (demand characteristics)
    • How did group size affect conformity in Asch's study?
      • Varied the number of confederates from 1-15
      • Conformity increased to 31% with group size
      • Levels off after 3 confederates, suggesting 2/3 are enough to sway opinion
    • What effect did introducing a dissenter have on conformity in Asch's study?
      • Conformity dropped to 25%
      • Presence of a dissenter freed naive participants
      • Suggests influence largely depends on unanimity
    • How did increasing the difficulty of the task affect conformity in Asch's study?
      • Increased task difficulty by making lines more similar
      • Conformity increased due to informational social influence (ISI)
      • Participants looked for guidance in their responses