Asch's Research A01

• Procedure

  Two large white cards with different line lengths with one card having standard line and other card with 3 seperate lines
• Participants

  123 male American undergraduates
• Confederates

  6 confederates in each group
• Trials

  18 trials per participant, 12 'critical' trials
• Conformity Rate

  36.8% of the time participants gave wrong answers
• Non-Conformity Rate

  25% of participants did not conform
• Conformity Occurrence

  75% of participants conformed at least once
• Reason for Conformity

  Participants were scared of rejection and conformed due to NSI (Normative Social Influence)
• Group Size Variation


  With 3 confederates, conformity increased to 31.8%
• Unanimity Variation

  Dissenting confederates decreased conformity rate
• Independence of Participant

  Participants were more independent when another person gave a different answer
• Alternative Knowledge

  ISI (Informational Social Influence) decreased when dissenting confederate provided alternative knowledge
• Task Difficulty Variation

  Closer line lengths increased conformity due to increased ISI