Variables affecting conformity

Cards (6)

  • Aschs conformity results (1)
    > aim - to investigate the effects of a majority opinion on individuals judgements
    > sample - 123 American male students
    Procedure -
    > ppts were individually placed into groups with 7-9 confederates
    > say which line was the same length as standard line X, ppts always second or last to answer
    > 12/18 trials confederates gave identical wrong answers
    > control group of 36 ppts
  • Aschs conformity results (2)
    > On average the real ppts gave a wrong answer 37% of the time when a confederate was present
    > Post experiment interviews found that the majority of ppts conformed publicly not privately to avoid ridicule
    > Supporting NSI
  • Group size
    > conformity rates increase as the size of a majority group increases. However, the size of the group stops having an effect on conformity once the group reaches a certain size
    • 1 confederate and 1 ppt - 3%
    • 2 confederates and 1 ppt - 13%
    • 3 confederates and 1 ppt 32%
    • conformity plateaus after this
  • Unanimity
    > complete agreement from a group of people about an answer or a viewpoint
    • Original study - all the same wrong answer - 37%
    • 1 confederate give correct answer - 5.5%
    • 1 confederate gave different wrong answer - 9%
    > Dissenter breaks groups unanimous position and conformity decreases
  • Task difficulty
    > Conformity increases when the difficulty of a task increases
    • Made lines more similar - conformity increased
    > Suggesting ISI plays a greater role as when task becomes harder conformity rates increase
    > As the right answer becomes less obvious we lose confidence in our own ability and are more likely to conform
  • AO3
    :) RTS Lucas et al
    > easy and hard maths problems
    :( Lucas found more complexity then Asch suggested
    > ppts with high confidence conformed less then those with low confidence
    :( gender bias
    :( culture bias