Asch (1955) Procedures

Front 1

Procedure 1

Back 1

Asch deceived the student volunteers claiming they were taking part in a 'vision' test; the real purpose was to see how the 'naïve' participant would react to the behaviour of the confederates

Front 2

Procedure 2

Back 2

There was one naïve participant and a group of six to eight confederates. The naïve participant always seated last or second to last (to ensure that he heard the others' answers before giving his own).

Front 3

Procedure 3

Back 3

The participants were shown two large white cards. They had to match the standard line whose length with one of three vertical lines of various lengths on the other card.

Front 4

Procedure 4

Back 4

The experiment began uneventfully, with all the confederates identifying the correct line, but after a few trials all of the confederates make an erroneous selection

Front 5

Procedure 5

Back 5

In total, the confederates were instructed to give the same incorrect answer in 12 out of the 18 trials with each participant

Front 6

Procedure 6

Back 6

After completing the trials, Asch revealed the true nature of the research and interviewed the naïve participants about their responses and behaviour.

Front 7

Additional procedure 1

Back 7

Asch had one of the confederates disagree with the majority but also disagree with the naïve participant

Front 8

Additional procedure 2

Back 8

Asch asked a confederate to start by giving correct responses for the first six critical trials, but then to join the majority for the remaining six critical trials