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18 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Aim |
How social pressure from a majority group can affect a person to conform |
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Number and type of participants |
123 male US undergraduates |
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How many real participants/confederates |
1 'real' participant, rest confederates |
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Task |
Look at 3 lines and choose one matching standard line. State aloud. Real participant stated 2nd to last. |
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What were the 'critical trials' |
Confederates gave wrong answer. This occurred on 12 out of 18 of the trials. |
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Control condition? |
Participants made mistake 1% of time |
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Findings |
33% conformity (on critical trials) 25% never conformed (on critical trials) 50% conformed on 6 or more of critical trials
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Conclusion |
Interview after showed they changed public behaviour to avoid disapproval Few believed answers to be true |
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Variation 1 - group size |
1 or 2 confederates - little conformity 3 confederates - 30% conformity Further increases didn't increase conformity substantially Study suggested group size has different effect depending on type of and motivation of individual |
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Variation 2 - unanimity of majority |
Asch concluded this is a major factor Added another real participant Conformity levels went from 33% to 5%
Then this participant gave answer different from both - conformity level 9% |
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Variation 3 - task difficulty |
Line lengths smaller so harder to judge - conformity levels increased Lucas et al. said high self-efficacy = more independent which show situational and individual differences are important |
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Evaluation - unique findings as took place when.... |
Period of time when conformity was high in US (McCarthyism) |
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Evaluation - limited range of group sizes? |
Suggested we know little about effect of larger majority sizes |
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Evaluation - independent behaviour? |
May show independent behaviour as 2 or 3 stuck to original judgement |
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Evaluation - biased sample |
Lacks pop. validity |
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Evaluation - artificial task |
Low ecological validity |
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Evaluation - ethical issues |
Not protected from psychological stress if disagreed with majority Deception |
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Evaluation - positives |
Shows normative influence
Asch debriefed his participants
Study inspired others to test in different countries |
