Asch and Variables affecting conformity

• Asch study of conformity

  1. Asch

  (1951, 1955) set up a study to investigate majority influence(conforming to the group)
• Evaluation of Asch‘s study of conformity

  Strengths

  • Asch used a standardised procedure(e.g. same group number per trial; same number of trials; same question asked)
  • A standardised procedure means that the study can be replicatedmany times over 
  • Repeated replications should show consistent results which equals high reliability
  • Replications of Asch's study (Smith & Bond, 1996) have been used to identify cross-cultural differences in conformity which gives validity to the idea that conformity is linked to group cohesion
  • The highest rates of conformity in the study were from collectivist cultures
  • These cultures value the needs of the group above individual needs
• Evaluation of asch study of conformity

  • 1940s/50s, when conformity was arguably higher, directly after World War II and pre-civil rights and the feminist movement
  • This observation has led to the study being labelled ‘a child of its time'
  • thus, the study lackstemporal validity
  • It is possible that some of the participants may have guessed the aim of the study due to the easinessof the task
  • If any participants had guessed the aim then they may simply have gone along with giving the wrong answer as this is what they thought was required of them (known as response bias)
  • Response bias reduces the validity of the findings
• Asch variable : group size

  • Asch conducted variations of his original line-length procedure to test how conformity changes depending on the condition
  • To test the effect of group size Asch instigated the following procedure:
  • With one confederate (i.e. just one person giving the wrong answer) conformity dropped to just 3% of the critical trials
  • When the group size increased to two confederates conformity was 12.8% of the critical trials
  • In a group containing three confederates conformity rose to 31.8% of the critical trials
• Asch's variable: unanimity

  • To test the effect of unanimity Asch asked one of the confederates to give the correct answer (i.e. the non-conforming answer) throughout, resulting in conformity dropping to 5%
  • This finding shows that support from another person makes it easier to resist the pressure to conform to the majority
  • In another variation, one of the confederates gave a different incorrect answer to the majority, resulting in conformity dropping to 9%
  • Disrupting group unanimity is therefore one way to reduceconformity
• Asch's variable: task difficulty

  • The task was made more difficult by minimising the difference between the length of the lines i.e. it was not as easy to detectwhich line was longer, shorter etc
  • In other words, the task becomes more ambiguous
  • Asch found the rate of conformity when faced with the ambiguous task increased (he didn’t report the percentage) 
  • Thus, when a task is difficult (ambiguous) and people conform to the incorrect answer, it can be explained by ISI (the need to be right; looking to others for the answer)