conformity: asch's research

• Key study 1: asch (1951) conformity research

  procedure: Asch recruited 123 american male students. each was tested individually with a group of between 6 + 8 confederates. on each trial pp's identified the length of a standard line. one the first few trials confedaretes gave correct answers but then selected the same wrong answers. each pp completed 18 trials. on 12 'critical trials' confederates gave the wrong answer
• Key study 1: asch (1951) conformity research


  findings: the naiive pp's gave a wrong answer 36.8% of the time. this shows a high level of conformity, called the Asch effect - the extent to which people conform even in an unambiguous situation
• Key study 1: asch (1951) conformity research


  findings: there were considerable individual differences : 25% of the pp's never gave a wrong answer, so 75% conformed at least once. a few pp's conformed most of the time. most pp's s said they conformed to avoid rejection (NSI) and continued to privately trust their own opinions (complaince)
• key study 2: asch (1955) variables affecting conformity


  procedure: group size- the number of confederates varied between 1 + 15.

  unanimity: asch introduced a truthful confederate or a confederate who was dissenting but inaccurate

  task difficulty: asch made the line-judging tasks harder by making the stimulus line + comparison lines more similar in length
• key study 2: asch (1955) variables affecting conformity


  findings: group size: with two conderates, conformity to the wrong answer was 13.6%, with three it rose to 31.8%. adding any more confederates made little difference

  unanimity: The presence of a dissenting confederate reduced conformity, whether the dissenter was giving the right or wrong answer. The figure was, on average, 25% wrong answers. Having a dissenter enabled a naïve participant to behave more independently.
• key study 2: asch (1955) variables affecting conformity

  findings: task difficulty: conformity increased when the task was more difficult. so ISI plays a greater role when the task becomes harder. the situation is more ambiguous, so we are more likely to look to others for guidance + assume they are right
• limitation - may be a 'child of the times'

  The 1950s were a conformist time in America + people might be less likely to conform now. The asch effect is not consistent over time, so its not an enduring feature of human behaviour
• limitation - situation + task were artificial


  pp's knew they were in a study so may have just responded to demand characteristics. the line task was trivial so there was no reason not to conform. also, the naiive pp's were in a 'group', but not like groups found in everyday life. findings don't generalise to everyday situations where consequences of conformity are important, and where we interact with groups more directly
• limitation - only applies to certain groups

  only men were tested by Asch. Neto (1955) suggested that women might be more conformist, possibly because they are more concerned about social relationships + being accepted. Pp's were from the USA, an individualist culture. Conformity rates are higher in collectivist cultures (eg china) which are more concerned with group needs. this suggests that conformity levels are sometimes higher than asch found ; his findings may be limited to american men
• ethical issues


  Naiive pp's were deceived. they thought the others in the procedure (confederates) were genuine. but this ethical cost should be weighed against the benefits of the study. the main benefit was highlighting people's susceptibility to group conformity + the variables affecting it