Conformity study

• In 1951 , Ash made a study to see the extent to which social pressure from a majority group could influence a person to conform
• In this study ,Ash made a group of people compare lines and say which one is the bigger one
• In this study , there was 50 male participant , in each group there was only one subject and , in general , seven confederate
• The results are : 1/3 subject conformed to the confederate's answers , 3/4 subjects conformed at least once and 1/4 subjects never conformed
• During this experiment , variables that impacted comformity was the group size ( it was easier to be contradictory to the confederate if the group was composed by 4 people than if it was composed by 8 people)
• Another variable that impacted conformity was the unanimity ( if two of the confederate did'nt give the same answer as the others, the subject felt more able to give his own answer)
• Another variable that impacted conformity was the task difficukty ( If two lines were difficukt to tell apart , like to tell whichn one was the bigger one, then the subject was more to relie on other as maybe not 100% sure himslef)
• The first type of conformity is called 'internalisation' , it is when people becoma part of the group as they start to believe what the others do ( for example , someone become vegetarian after listening to the view of animals right compaigners)
• The second typr of conformity is 'identification ' , it is when people become part of a group , evn though they don't agree that the other members are right ( you wear snickers because the rest of the group wear snickers even if you don't like them yourself)
• The third type of conformity is 'compliance' , it is when people go along with the behaviouor of the group in public but not in private . ( A teacher tells you to stand up and you do it even though you don't think they are right)