Asch’s research

What is the purpose of Asch’s baseline study?

The study against which all the later studies are compared to

What did Asch want to explore?

To what extent people with conform to these opinion of others, even in a situation where the answer is clear

What was Asch’s baseline procedure?

• 6-8 groups of 123 American men → in each group, one genuine participant and the rest confederates

• Each participant saw a card with a line, and three other comparison lines, three different lengths, but one obviously same length

• The participants had to say out loud which of the comparison lines matched the original

• All confederates gave the purposefully wrong answers

How often did participants conform?

36.8% or 1/3 of the time

What percentage of the participants never gave a wrong answer?

25%

What percentage gave at least one wrong answer (conformed at least once)?

75%

What variables did Asch investigate?

1. Group size

2. Unanimity

3. Task difficulty

What effect did group size have on results?

• Conformity increased with group size up to a point → curvilinear relationship between group size and conformity rate

• Suggests most people are sensitive to the views of others → 1 or 2 confederates were enough to sway opinion

What effect did unanimity have on results?

• Presence of allies saw conformity drop to less than a quarter of what it was before

• Suggests influence of the majority largely depends on it being unanimous

What effect did task difficulty have on results?

Conformity increased as the comparison lines were more similar, harder for subjects to see the right answer → natural for subjects to look at confederates for guidance and assume they are right (ISI)

Does Lucas et al. (2006) support or critique Asch?

• As tasks become more difficult, individuals tend to become more susceptible to the influence of others → self-efficacy moderates this

• People with higher confidence in their abilities are more likely to resist social pressure when facing difficult tasks.

• Supports Asch in saying that people are affected by environment and people, but critiques him as he didn’t consider self-efficacy