asch

aim

assess to what extent people will conform to the opinion of others

baseline procedure

123 american men took part.

1 participant was placed into a group with 5-7 confederates

asked to match the standard and comparison line but the confederates gave wrong answers on some trials

naive participant conformed 37% of the time

variables investigated- group size

varied number of confederates from 1 to 15

with 3 confederates, conformity rates were at 32% but there was a little increase after that (curvilinear relationship)

variables investigated- unanimity

asch introduced a non-conforming confederate

conformity decreased in the presence of a dissenter

variables investigated- task difficulty

the standard and comparison lines were made more similar in length (more ambiguous)

conformity increased due to informational social influence

evaluation weakness- artificial situation

participants may have been responding to demand characteristics, so findings don’t generalise to real world situations as they have low ecological validity

evaluation weakness- limited application

androcentric sample (only american men), so findings can’t generalise to the wider population as it only explains conformity in men

evaluation strength- research support

todd lucas et al (2006) participants also conformed more when the maths problems got harder

evaluation weakness- ethical issues

participants were deceived as told they were taking part in a vision test