Variables affecting conformity

• AO1 - Group Size 

  • Changed the size of the majority & observed the impact on conformity 
  • He found that increasing the size of group increased conformity 
  • but only up to 3 (31.8% conformity) 
  • after this, adding more people didn’t make any difference on the rate of conformity 
  • = shows that you only need a small majority to create a significant influence 

    
• AO1 - Task Difficulty 

  •  He made the lines more similar to make task harder 
  • This resulted in a higher rate of conformity  
  • This is because of ISI (desire to be right) 
  • As the task gets harder the p is more likely to look to others for the right answer. 

    
• AO1 - Unanimity 

  •  In the original study the majority was unanimous in giving the wrong answer 
  • However, in the variation one confederate gave the right answer  
  • Conformity rates dropped from 33% to 5.5% 
  • This can be explained by NSI  
  • Having a confederate give the right answer breaks the social norm and lessens the group pressure for p to fit in.