Social Influence P1 psych

• Asch's Line Study


  PROCEDURE

  • 123 American males
  • sat in last/ 2nd to last seat
  • 6-8 confederates
  • shown 2 cards: [I] [lIl]
  • all confederates gave same wrong answer
• Asch's Line Study


  FINDINGS

  • 32% conformed
  • to fit in and avoid the discomfort of rejection from the group
• Variables Affecting Conformity - Asch

  • unanimity: introduced a confederate who disagreed with the others (gave correct or another wrong asnwer), found that Conformity decreased 5% => presence of dissenters allows people to behave more independently
• Variables Affecting Conformity - Asch

  • group size: varied the number of confederates, found that 3 confeds = 32% conformed, 2 confeds = 12.8% conformed, 1 confed = 3% conformed
• Variables Affecting Conformity - Asch

  • task difficulty: increased difficulty by making the comparison lines more similar to the standard line, found that conformity increased with task difficulty => suggests people have a need to be liked
• Explanations of Conformity

  1. normative social influence (NSI): conform to follow norms, by doing what is normal for a social group to avoid rejection - leads to compliance - emotional process
  2. informative social influence (ISI): conform to be right, when we think other people are correct - leads to internalisation - cognitive process