The aim of Asch’s experiment was to research the influence of a majority group on how people conform.
procedure of asch's study
To carry out his experiment he selected 123male undergraduate volunteers,
he placed each one in a group with 5-7 confederates.
They were asked to sit around a table and were shown a standard length line followed by 3 other comparison lines.
They were asked to call out which comparison line was the same as the first one with the participant always going second to last
findings from asch's study
He found that over his 12 critical trials the conformity rate was 33%
he found that 75% conformed on at least one trial.
When he interviewed these participants they stated that they had conformed to avoid disapproval of the group.
However there were some individual differences as ¼ never confirmed.
asch changing variables
He also changed some of the variables in his study to see what effect this would have on conformity
Group sizes- when the size reached 3 or more participants conformity levels jumped to 30%
Unanimity- when all of the group gave the wrong answer the participant was also likely to give the wrong answer, Percentage of wrong answers dropped to 5.5% when someone else gave right answer
Difficulty of task- people were more likely to conform if task is difficult as they look to others to make sure they are correct especially if they had a lack of self efficacy.
