ALL STUDIES

• Research support for ISI- Lucas et al

  • Asked students to give answers to mathematical problems, either easy or difficult
  • Greater conformity to incorrect answers when questions were more difficult
  • Mostly true for students who rated their mathematical ability as poor
  • Shows how people conform in situations where they dont know the answer and rely on others for information that they feel are more intelligent/reliable
• Research support for NSI- Asch

  • Asked ppts why they conformed to the wrong answer
  • Some ppts felt self-conscious of giving the correct answer, fear of disapproval
  • Asch repeated the study with writing answers down, conformity decreased to 12.5%~
• Conformity research: Solomon Asch

  • Tested conformity through his 'line study'
  • Studied 123 American male undergraduates
  • Showed ppts a line on one card and then 3 lines on another card, all different lenghts
  • One of the 3 lines was the same as the standard previously shown, other 2 clearly different lengths
  • Ppts had to match which line height matched the standard
• Conformity research: Asch prt 2

  • Each naive ppt (real ppt) was tested individually with a group of 6-8 confederates (purposefully conformed, naive ppt did not know this)
  • First few trials confeds gave correct answers before purposely choosing incorrect answers
  • Confeds gave the wrong answer on 12 of 18 trials ('critical trials')
• Conformity: Asch findings


  • 36.8% Naive ppt gave a wrong answer
  • 25% of overall ppts did not conform on any trials
  • 75% conformed at least once
  • The 'asch effect'
  • When interviewed most ppts they conformed to avoid rejection (NSI
• Asch, group size variation

  • 31.8% conformity with 3 confeds (instead of 6-8)
  • The addition of further confeds made little difference