Social
Influence
Essay plans
AQA
, Outline and evaluate research into variables affecting conformity
16 marks
A01
Asch investigated to what extent people will conform to the opinion of others, even in a situation where the answer is certain (unambiguous)
tested 123 american males in his baseline study. They had to determine which line the standard line matches (e.g. length wise) and found
that 37% of the time, the participants conformed with the confederates incorrect answer
Asch extended his baseline study to investigate the variables that might change levels of conformity
1. group size
Asch measured this through varying the number of confederates. Asch found that conformity increased with group size, but only up to a
point.
When there was 3 confederates, conformity to the wrong answer rose to 31.8, however the addition of more confederates after this caused
little to no difference, meaning that conformity rates levelled off
This suggests that most people are very sensitive to the views of others because 1-2 confederates can sway opinions.
1. Unanimity
Asch introduced a confederate who disagreed with all the other confederates. In one variation of the study, they gave the correct answer,
however in another one, they gave the incorrect answer.
When they gave the incorrect answer, the genuine participant conformed less, causing conformity rates to decrease to less than a quarter to
what it was when the majority was unanimous. This is because the presence of a ‘dissenter’ caused the pps to answer more freely
This suggests that the influence of the majority depends to a large extent on it being unanimous.
1. Difficulty of task
Asch increased the difficulty of the task through making the stimulus line and the comparison lines more similar to each other in length.
Asch found that conformity levels increased in this situation because the situation is more ambiguous when the task becomes harder
A03
-One limitation of Asch’s research is that the task and situation were artificial. In this situation, pps knew they were in a research study and
may have simply gone along with what was expected due to demand characteristics. The task od identifying lines was trivial, and therefore
they may have been no reason to not conform. This means that the findings do not generalise to real-world situations, especially those
where the consequences of conformity might be important
-Another limitation is that Asch’s pps were American men. This is a problem because other resarch has found that women may be more
conformist, possibly because they are more concerned about social relationships and being liked/accepted. Another problem with this
sample is that the USA is an individualist culture. Similar conformity studies in collectivist cultures e.g. China, where it has been found that
conformity rates are higher. This means that Asch’s findings cannot be generalised to the wider population, and they tell us little about
conformity in women and people from some cultures.
+One strength of Asch’s research is that there’s support from others studies for the effects of task difficulty. E.g. Lucas et al asked their pps
to solve easy and hard maths problems. Pps were given answers from three other students (confederates). It was found that pps conformed
when the problems were harder. This shows that Asch was correct in claiming that task difficulty is one variable that affects conformity.
However, Lucas et al’s study found that conformity is more complex that Asch suggested. Pps with high confidence in their maths abilities
conformed less on hard tasks than those with low confidence. This shows that individual differences can influence conformity by interacting
with other variables, however Asch did not research the roles of individual factors.
Influence
Essay plans
AQA
, Outline and evaluate research into variables affecting conformity
16 marks
A01
Asch investigated to what extent people will conform to the opinion of others, even in a situation where the answer is certain (unambiguous)
tested 123 american males in his baseline study. They had to determine which line the standard line matches (e.g. length wise) and found
that 37% of the time, the participants conformed with the confederates incorrect answer
Asch extended his baseline study to investigate the variables that might change levels of conformity
1. group size
Asch measured this through varying the number of confederates. Asch found that conformity increased with group size, but only up to a
point.
When there was 3 confederates, conformity to the wrong answer rose to 31.8, however the addition of more confederates after this caused
little to no difference, meaning that conformity rates levelled off
This suggests that most people are very sensitive to the views of others because 1-2 confederates can sway opinions.
1. Unanimity
Asch introduced a confederate who disagreed with all the other confederates. In one variation of the study, they gave the correct answer,
however in another one, they gave the incorrect answer.
When they gave the incorrect answer, the genuine participant conformed less, causing conformity rates to decrease to less than a quarter to
what it was when the majority was unanimous. This is because the presence of a ‘dissenter’ caused the pps to answer more freely
This suggests that the influence of the majority depends to a large extent on it being unanimous.
1. Difficulty of task
Asch increased the difficulty of the task through making the stimulus line and the comparison lines more similar to each other in length.
Asch found that conformity levels increased in this situation because the situation is more ambiguous when the task becomes harder
A03
-One limitation of Asch’s research is that the task and situation were artificial. In this situation, pps knew they were in a research study and
may have simply gone along with what was expected due to demand characteristics. The task od identifying lines was trivial, and therefore
they may have been no reason to not conform. This means that the findings do not generalise to real-world situations, especially those
where the consequences of conformity might be important
-Another limitation is that Asch’s pps were American men. This is a problem because other resarch has found that women may be more
conformist, possibly because they are more concerned about social relationships and being liked/accepted. Another problem with this
sample is that the USA is an individualist culture. Similar conformity studies in collectivist cultures e.g. China, where it has been found that
conformity rates are higher. This means that Asch’s findings cannot be generalised to the wider population, and they tell us little about
conformity in women and people from some cultures.
+One strength of Asch’s research is that there’s support from others studies for the effects of task difficulty. E.g. Lucas et al asked their pps
to solve easy and hard maths problems. Pps were given answers from three other students (confederates). It was found that pps conformed
when the problems were harder. This shows that Asch was correct in claiming that task difficulty is one variable that affects conformity.
However, Lucas et al’s study found that conformity is more complex that Asch suggested. Pps with high confidence in their maths abilities
conformed less on hard tasks than those with low confidence. This shows that individual differences can influence conformity by interacting
with other variables, however Asch did not research the roles of individual factors.
