AO1

• variables affecting conformity

  • group size
  • the unanimity of the majority
  • the difficulty of the task
• Asch’s study

  • Participants 123 male American undergraduates in groups of 6; consisting of 1 true participant and 5 confederates (actors/people in on the experiment)
  • Aim is to investigate conformity and majority influence
• Asch’s study - Procedure

  • Participants and confederates were presented with 4 lines; 3 comparison lines and 1 standard line
  • They asked to state which of three lines was the same length as a stimulus line
  • The real participant always answered last or second to last
  • Confederates would give the same incorrect answer for 12 out of 18 trials
  • Asch observed how often the participant would give the same incorrect answer as the confederates versus the correct answer
• Asch’s study - Findings

  • 36.8% conformed
  • 25% never conformed
  • 75% conformed at least once
  • In a control trial, only 1% of responses given by participants were incorrect (which eliminates eyesight/perception as an extraneous variable, thus increasing the validity of the conclusions drawn)
• Group size- Asch found only 3% conformity with one confederate, 13% with two confederates, and 33% with three confederates, not increasing past 33% as the group became larger.
• Unanimity- If the confederate gives the right answer just before the participant’s turn to answer, conformity drops to 5.5%. This rate of conformity stayed the same even if the confederate gave a different wrong answer to the rest of the group.This may be because another person going against the majority gives the participant emotional support to dissent.
• Task difficulty- Asch made the difference between the line lengths smaller, and found that conformity increased when the task was more difficult. This is the informational social influence effect.