AO3

• Strengths - supporting evidence for ISI. Baumeister et al found that when college students were around another student (confederate) who told them to drive faster or slow down, they would do this even when they later drove alone. This supports ISI, as the results show that the students felt that the confederate knew better than them, even when they were no longer present.
• Strength - further research to support ISI. Lucas et al found that when groups were given easy or hard maths questions, there was greater conformity to incorrect answers when the problems were difficult. This suggests the participants were conforming as they believed the others to be more knowledgeable than them.
• Strength - supporting evidence for NSI. Asch found that when participants were given a task with a very obvious answer, they would conform to the incorrect answer of the confederate group. 74% conformed at least once. They asked participants why and most admitted they did not want to stand out from the group and found it easier to give an incorrect answer.
• Strength - Deutch and Gerrard carried out a variation of Asch's study where they emphasised that they were working ad a team and that there would be a reward for the five best groups. Participants in this condition made twice as many errors and when questioned, seven out of fifteen said it was because of obligation to other group members. This shows NSI can cause people to give incorrect information and supports that NSI is most likely to occur when a person feels part of a group.