Asch Conformity Research

• Asch's study (AO1)

  Investigated whether people conformed to obviously wrong answers
• Asch's study

  • Sample of 123 American male students
  • Participants put into groups of 6-8 people
  • Had to say out loud the comparison line that matched the standard line in length
  • Only one real participant in each group, rest were confederates
  • Confederates gave the same incorrect answers in 12 out of 18 trials
  • Participants had to answer last or second to last
• 75% of participants conformed once, 25% did not conform at all
• When a confederate gave a right answer

  Conformity decreased (5% conformity rate)
• Task difficulty

  Conformity increased
• Group size

  • Conformity increased in group sizes of 3+
  • 1 confederate = 3% conformity rate
  • 3 confederates = 33% conformity rate
• Lacks population validity (AO1) -

  • Sample only consisted of white American males (androcentric sample)
• Findings have limited application

  We do not know whether women and other cultures would conform the same way and so we cannot generalise the findings to the rest of the population
• Lacks ecological validity(AO3) -


  • Takes place in laboratory setting
  • Participants judge length of lines (artificial task)
  • Does not reflect everyday situations
• Asch research does not tell us about conformity in a real world setting
• Good control over variables (AO3) +

  • Able to control answers confederates gave
  • Task difficulty
  • Group size
  • Where ppt sat
• This establishes cause and effect, increasing internal validity