Asch’s lines study

• Aim

  To examine whether social pressure from a majority could make someone conform
• participants

  50 male college students
• procedure

  • told they were taking part in a vision test
  • 2 naive ppts and 7 confederates
  • had to determine the length of a line compared to a target line
• results

  • 74% conformed on at least one trial
  • 26% didn’t conform
• conclusion

  participants conform due to normative social influence
• positive evaluation

  participants were debriefed after the experiment and had a right to withdraw
• negative evaluations

  • deception - told they were doing a vision test
  • protection from harm - felt stressed and anxious
  • ecological validity - not representative of conformity in everyday life
  • population validity - androcentric, college students
• 3 variables affecting conformity

  • group size
  • task difficulty
  • unanimity
• group size

  bigger group —> higher conformity levels
• unanimity

  when the naive ppts had an ally who also disagreed with the majority, conformity levels decreased
• task difficulty

  conformity increased when the task was more difficult