conformity: Asch's research

• conformity is a change in a person's behaviour or opinions as a result of real or imagined pressure from a person or group of people.
• ASCH'S BASELINE PROCEDURE

  • 1951.
  • 123 american male participants.
  • tested individually, in a group with 6-8 confederates.
  • told it was a test of vision.
  • shown a target line, and had to say which of other 3 were closest in length - the answer was obvious.
  • they were always the 6th person to answer aloud.
  • participants were not aware of the confederates.
  • confederates all gave a predecided wrong answer.
• ASCH - RESULTS:

  • gave the wrong answer 37% of the time.
  • due to individual differences, some never conformed - 25% didnt conform on any trial.
• asch identified 3 variation studies based on factors that affect asch identified 3 variation studies based on factors that affect conformity levels:

  1. group size.
  2. unanimity.
  3. task difficulty.
• GROUP SIZE VARIATION:

  • varied confederates in the groups, 1 - 15.
  • identified a curvilinear relationship - conformity increased with group size but only to a certain point.
  • 3 confederates = 32% conformity - did not increase much more after this.
  • suggests people are sensitive to the views of others.
• UNANIMITY VARIATION:

  • introduced a confederate that disagreed with the others - dissenter.
  • in one variation, they gave the right answer and the other they gave a different wrong answer.
  • participants conformed less in the presence of a dissenter, even if they gave the wrong answer.
  • rate = less than 1/4, when the majority was not unanimous
  • gives them a sense of more independence.
• TASK DIFFICULTY:

  • increased difficulty of the task, made the 3 lines closer in size.
  • made it harder to tell which was the right line.
  • still clear which was right to an extent.
  • when the answer is more ambigious people look to others for guidance, assuming others are right and they are wrong.
• LIMITATION - ARTIFICAL SITUATION:

  • demand characteristics may show are participants knew they were in a study, and may have worked out the true aim.
  • there were no consequences to conformity, making it unlike real life.
  • the group used was not a reflection of real life groups as they did not know each other.
  • difficult to generalise these findings, they are unapplicable.
• LIMITATION - ETHICS:

  • level of deception - use of confederates, no longer allowed in psychological studies.
  • deception - aim of the study, told it was a vison test and could make them stress about the qaulity of their eyesight.
  • no protection from psychological harm.
• STRENGTH - RESEARCH SUPPORT

  • lucas et al 2006.
  • asked participants to solve easy and hard maths questions.
  • conformity was higher when the tasks were harder.
  • supports the task difficulty variation.