Asch's variations

• Group size

  With one confederate, the real participants conformed on just 3% of the critical trials.

  When the group size increased to two confederates, the real participants conformed on 12.8% of the critical trials.

  When there were three confederates, the real participants conformed on 32% of the critical trials, the same as in Asch’s baseline experiment.
• Unanimity

  Conformity decreases when there is support for the participant's belief or when the group's unanimous position is broken

  • Confederate gave the correct answer throughout and conformity dropped to 5%.
  • Confederates gave a different incorrect answer and the conformity dropped to 9%.
• Task Difficulty

  Conformity increases when the task becomes more difficult, possibly due to informational social influence (ISI).

  • The task was made more difficult, by making the difference between the line lengths significantly smaller. The rate of conformity subsequently increased.