Asch

• Asch ( 1951 ) aimed to investigate how people respond to group pressure.
• Asch ( 1951 ) studied 123 American student males.
• Asch ( 1951 ) placed the ppts into groups of 6 - 8 where all were confederates apart from one ppt.
• Asch ( 1951 ) conducted 18 trials of the line test where they were shown a standard line and 3 other lines. They were asked which matched the standard line. It was not difficult and the answer was clear
• In 12 of the 18 trials Asch conducted, the confederates gave a wrong answer
• Asch ( 1951 ) found that participants conformed and gave the wrong answer 32 % of the time. 25 % never gave a wrong answer, and 75 % gave the wrong answer in at least one trial
• Asch found that there may have been informational or normative social influence
• Asch interviewed the participants thats conformed after the trials and found that they conformed in fear of not fitting in
• Variables affecting conformity:

  Difficulty of task

  Unanimity of majority

  Size of majority
• Difficulty of task:

  If the task is more difficult, conformity increases by 25 %
• Unanimity of majority:

  If there is an ally saying the correct answer, conformity decreases by 5.5 %
• AO3. Asch's study lacks temporal validity. It was conducted in the 1950 s where McCarthyism was dominant, people didn't want to appear non conformist due to the fear of being associated with communists who were pointed out. This explains the high levels of conformity found in the study.
• AO3. There is culture bias in the research. It was conducted in an individualistic culture so it doesn't reflect collectivist cultures, for example China may show higher levels of conformity as individuals are always taking others into consideration.
• AO3. Asch uses artificial tasks to demonstrate conformity. Conformity works very differently in real life settings. Also, there are no real consequences for non conformity so doesn't reflect real life, in real life non conformity may be higher. This decreases the internal validity of the study.
• AO3. The study may be proving the opposite of what was claimed. The rate of conformity is 32 %, meaning that in two thirds of the trials, ppts stuck to their original judgment despite the majority expressing a different view. This means that the conclusions drawn from the study - that we conform - could be questioned or lack credibility. This illustrates that we are more likely to not conform than to conform.
• AO3. Asch's study uses a biased sample. All of the participants were male, meaning it was androcentric. Also, the participants were all of the same age group as they were all students, lowering the population validity. This means that the findings cannot be generalised to females or older people.