Factors affecting conformity - Asch

Outline research into conformity

Asch researched into conformity in 1951 and 1955. Conformity is changing your behaviour based on real or imagined group pressure. Asch had 7 people around a table - 6 confederates and one naive participants who thought they were taking part in a vision perception test.

The task was deciding which one out of 3 lines matched the stimulus line. The participants had to give their answers verbally. The task was clear and the answer was obvious. He asked the confederates to say the wrong answers to see if the naive participants would change his behaviour.

Naive p’s conformed 6/18 of the trials on average. Out of all 123 male Americian P’s, ¾ of p’s conformed at least once.

Asch did 3 other variations - he varied the number of confederates from 1-15 and found a curvilinear relationship between group size and conformity rate. With 3 confederates, conformity to the wrong answer rose to 31% but after that, the presence of more confederates made little difference. Asch concluded that people were very sensitive to the views of others because just one or two confederates was enough to sway opinions.

Another variation was unanimity. A confederate was introduced which disagreed with the other confederates, this person gave a correct answer in one variation and an incorrect one in the other. The rate of conformity decreased to less than a quarter of the level it was when the majority was unanimous. The presence of a dissenter appeared to free the naive participants to behave more independently in both variations.

The last variation was task difficulty. Asch increased the difficulty of the line-judging task difficulty by making the stimulus line and the comparison lines more similar to each other in length. It became harder for the genuine participants to see the difference between the lines, causing conformity to increase. It was unclear to the participants to the participants what the right answer it is natural to look to other people for guidance.

Outline Asch’s variations as an explanation for conformity - high internal validity

P - A strength of Asch’s variation is that is has high internal validity.

E - For example, Asch used a standardised procedure in a lab setting. The task included deciding which out of the three lines matches the stimulus line. The answer was made clear and there was no ambiguity in the task.

E - This is a strength because the findings can be replicated, increasing their reliability. In addition, as the task was clear, he was definitely measuring conformity and not people’s ability to perceive small differences in length, therefore increasing the reliability in Asch’s research.

C - However, some may argue that it has a low external validity because the set up was artificial and the task was odd thing to be discussed around a table. This means that it has little mundane realism and cannot be generalised as the conformity shown in the lab study may be different to conformity in modern day life, therefore discrediting Asch’s variations.

L - Despite this, it is still a strength as it has internal validity, conformity was definitely measured and the results were obvious so Asch’s study shows the impact of the majority, therefore encouraging more psychologists to use it.

Outline Asch’s variations as an explanation for conformity - outdated

P - A weakness of Asch’s variations is that it is outdated and may no longer apply to everyday life.

E - For example, Asch’s research was conducted in 1951 and 1955 which is around 70 years ago. If the study was conducted today, the results may have changed due to changes in society.

E - This is a weakness because it means that the conclusions made from Asch’s research may have been correct at the time but now they may be inaccurate, making it less useful and practical to draw conclusions about conformity in modern day life. This therefore decreases the trust in Asch’s variations.

C - However, some may argue that Asch used a standardised procedure meaning that the study can be easily replicated in modern day life. As the study can be easily repeated, this increases the usefullness of Asch’s variations.

L - Despite this, it is a weakness due to the fact that the modern research was conducted a long time ago which makes it less generalisable to modern day life and this decreases its external validity.

Outline Asch’s variations as an explanation for conformity - naive p’s were deceived

P - A weakness of Asch’s variations is that the naive participants was deceived.

E - For example, Asch told his p’s that they were taking part in a vision perception test even though this was not the aim of the study. This is deception according to the BPS and APA which is unethical.

E - This is a weakness because it involved the participant being exposed to psychological harm. This means that the study cannot be repeated as it would not be allowed in modern day life by the BPS and APA, therefore decreasing the trust in the results of Asch’s variations because it can’t be repeated.

C - However, some may argue that a wealth of evidence could be found from this study and it was impossible to conduct a study like this without deception as otherwise there would have been significant demand characteristics. This increases the practicality of Asch’s variations.

L - Despite this, it is still a weakness due to the fact that participants suffered from stress and embarrassment, following the study. As it cannot be repeated, no more conclusions can be drawn and this decreases the external validity of Asch’s variations.