Variables affecting conformity

• What was the procedure?

  Participants had to sit around a table and look at three lines. Then they had to choose which of the 3 was the same length as the standard line.
• Out of the 18 trials how many of them were "critical trials"?

  12 out 18
• What was the job of the confederates?

  To give wrong answers even if the right answer was obvious
• How did Asch check that the real answer was actually obvious?

  He repeated the experiment but this time there were no confederates
• What did Asch find out when he interviewed the participants after?

  That many of them complied as they changed their answer publicly but continued to privately trust their own perceptions
• How did Asch vary the group size?

  He increased the number of confederates each time