asch (1951)

• a= see if the real participant would conform to the majority view

  p = 123 male undergraduates usa, ppt asked which of three comparison lines matched the original. 1 naive ppt vs 7 confederates with pre agreed answers for line judgement. naive ppt answers after the confederates. 12/18 trials - confederates gave the wrong answer to see if naive ppt would conform
• r = naive ppt wrong answer - 37% (36.8) of time, 75% ppt conformed at least once

  c = after the experiment, most said that they didn't understand their conforming answers but went along with the group to avoid ridicule (NSI) and some actually believed the group answer to be correct (ISI)
• artificial task

  • lacks mundane realism - activity is not everyday, this means lacks ecological validity and can't be generalised
  • may cause demand characteristics as they know they are ppt in experiment, this means less internal validity
• lack of application to everyday life

  • people are less likely to conform on important decisions (jury)
  • as aschs task had no importance, it can not be generalised to everyday life, in turn reducing ecological validity
• group of ppt didn't resemble groups we encounter in everyday life

  • more likely to conform with friends/family due to SIT (social identity theory), you view it as 'us' against 'them' (tajfel 1979)
  • less likely to conform with strangers
• limited application

  • lacks population validity - only used males, so can't generalise.
  • NETO found - women conformed more, as concerned about social relationships and being accepted
  • carried out in US, which an individualistic culture
  • bond + smith - individualist cultures, people are only concerned about themselves
  • as collectivist cultures have a community mindset so conform to social views
• a child of its time

  • research took place in a particular period of US history when conformity was high.
  • in 1956 there was a mccarthyism time where people were scared to go against the majority and so more likely to conform.
  • perrin and spencer (1980) - repeated the study in the UK with engineering students. 1/396 trials showed conformity. may have been as they were more confident. limitation as it shows how asch’s effect is not consistent across time so may not be as relevant to behaviour.
• broke ethical guidelines

  • deception: participants were deceived, as they did not know the true purpose of the study and were unaware that the other "participants" were actually confederates. deception was necessary to maintain the integrity of the experiment, raised ethical concerns about informed consent and the potential psychological harm caused by the stress of social pressure.
• broke ethical guidelines

  • stress and discomfort: some participants reported feeling distressed about the situation, especially when they disagreed with the majority. suggests that social pressure could lead to discomfort or emotional strain, raising concerns about the psychological impact on participants.
• can be argued that the ends justify the means, as information learned from the experiment is useful for everyday situations (voting)
• variations

  • group size
  • unanimity
  • difficulty of task
  • answers in private
• group size

  • varied confederates from 1-15
  • conformity peaked at 3 ppt, 31.8%
  • adding more ppt had little effect, meaning one or two could sway opinions
• unanimity

  • ppt conformed less when there was a non-conforming confederate (decreased to 5%)
  • conformity depends on the majority, and increases with perceived disagreement
• difficulty of task

  • made the lines more similar - increases difficulty
  • conformity increase, due to ambiguity, ppt rely on others for guidance - informational social influence (isi)
• giving answers in private

  • conformity decreases due to lack of social pressures
  • normative social influence (nsi) decreases
  • real life application - vote in private for elections
• lucas et al

  difficulty of task