variables affecting conformity

aqa a-level psychology social influence - Asch's research

what year was asch’s study?

1951

what was asch’s aim?

to investigate the extent to which social pressure from a majority group could affect a person to conform

what was the procedure?

• lab experiment

• 1 pp + 7 confeds

• confeds answered wrong answer to line judgement task

• pp answered 2nd to last

how many trials were there in total?

18

how many trials were there where the confederates gave the wrong answer?

12

what were the results of the experiment?

• 1/3 of the participants conformed to the incorrect majority

• ¾ of the participants conformed on at least 1 trial

what are the variables affecting conformity?

• group size

• group unanimity

• answering in private

• task difficulty

how did group size affect conformity?

conformity increased as the group size increased

1 confederate - 3% conformity

3+ confederates - 32% conformity

how did unanimity affect conformity?

conformity decreased when the groups unanimity was disturbed

1 confederate dissented - 5.5% conformity

how did task difficulty affect conformity?

when task difficulty increases, conformity increased

how did answering in private affect conformity?

when answering in private, conformity decreased

what was asch’s conclusion?

(interviewed) most pps did not believe their peers but had gone along for fear of being ridiculed or thought “peculiar”. some actually believed they were correct

what are the weaknesses of asch’s research?

• child of its time

• unconvincing confederates

• independent behaviour > conformity

• problems determining group size

how does asch’s research show evidence for independent behaviour rather than conformity?

in 2/3 of trials, pps kept their original answer despite the large majority disagreeing - suggesting majority influence is not as important

how is asch’s research seen as a ‘child of its time’?

the research took place in 1950s USA where mccarthyism was very relevant and conformity was was very important. 1980 replication (perring and spencer) found only 1 conforming response

how has asch’s research led to problems determining group size?

asch determined that a majority of 3 was a sufficient number for maximal influence and therefore subsequent studies use 3 as the majority size so there is little data on larger group sizes

how has asch’s research been criticised for unconvincing confederates?

the confederates may have been unconvincing as it is difficult to act as if you are telling the truth when you’re lying

mori and arai (2010) retested this by giving participants polarising glasses that showed 1 pp different imagery to everyone else, and it yielded the same results.

asch had conving confederates