The field of psychology that was investigated was social psychology, in particular the area of conformity and how individuals will adhere to a group norm. By definition social psychology is the branch of psychology that deals with social interactions, including their origins and their effects on the individual.
Conformity is changing behaviour or beliefs to align with the norms of the group. There are three different types of conformity, compliance, internalisation and identification. Compliance is where an individual outwardly conforms to behaviours or beliefs of the group while still maintaining their own views or opinions. Identification is altering and adapting behaviour both internally and externally due to a desire to become a member …show more content…
Asch used length of a line study. This involved stating what line was the same length as the stimulus line, when asked as individuals the participants answered correctly but when asked as part of a group most participants would conform to the wrong answer given by the actor. The results of this experiment were that 32% of participants answered wrongly. These results show conformity to a group norm as even with a clear answer participants will conform to the actors wrong answer. Crutchfield 1955- the aim of Crutchfields experiment was to see if people would conform to a group norm even when answering the question individually .Crutchfield used the same task as Asch but instead of the participants being in I group they were placed in booths and asked to answer the question at hand, while being able to see the results of the other participants. However the results of the other participants wee controlled by the experimenter. The results still show a very high level of conformity at …show more content…
The experimental design used in this experiment was an independent group design this was used as there is a high level of control. Participants were split into two groups and each group takes part in one condition of the IV, two groups of participants were used to permit comparison between the two conditions of the IV. The IV in this experimental investigation is to see if participants judgment would be influenced , the conditions of the IV were the blank response sheet and a sheet with pre estimated results and the DV was to see if participants results would change when exposed to others judgments and the conditions where the participants estimates. In this experiment the experimental hypothesis was people will conform to group norm when shown the estimates of others. And the null hypothesis is that participants will not conform to a group norm as some other factor has affected the
Conformity is changing behaviour or beliefs to align with the norms of the group. There are three different types of conformity, compliance, internalisation and identification. Compliance is where an individual outwardly conforms to behaviours or beliefs of the group while still maintaining their own views or opinions. Identification is altering and adapting behaviour both internally and externally due to a desire to become a member …show more content…
Asch used length of a line study. This involved stating what line was the same length as the stimulus line, when asked as individuals the participants answered correctly but when asked as part of a group most participants would conform to the wrong answer given by the actor. The results of this experiment were that 32% of participants answered wrongly. These results show conformity to a group norm as even with a clear answer participants will conform to the actors wrong answer. Crutchfield 1955- the aim of Crutchfields experiment was to see if people would conform to a group norm even when answering the question individually .Crutchfield used the same task as Asch but instead of the participants being in I group they were placed in booths and asked to answer the question at hand, while being able to see the results of the other participants. However the results of the other participants wee controlled by the experimenter. The results still show a very high level of conformity at …show more content…
The experimental design used in this experiment was an independent group design this was used as there is a high level of control. Participants were split into two groups and each group takes part in one condition of the IV, two groups of participants were used to permit comparison between the two conditions of the IV. The IV in this experimental investigation is to see if participants judgment would be influenced , the conditions of the IV were the blank response sheet and a sheet with pre estimated results and the DV was to see if participants results would change when exposed to others judgments and the conditions where the participants estimates. In this experiment the experimental hypothesis was people will conform to group norm when shown the estimates of others. And the null hypothesis is that participants will not conform to a group norm as some other factor has affected the