Psychology A level:
Social influence
, Participant/s = Pp/Pps
With = w/
Abbreviations: Number = #
Questions = qs
Without = w/o
,Conformity - Asch’s research
Baseline procedure:
❏ Participants were American males
❏ Participants had to complete a line judgement task
❏ Naive Pp was put in a room w/ 7 other males who were confederates
❏ Pp believed that the other confederates were actual Participants
❏ Genuine Pp always sat at near the end of the group order
❏ Pps had to state which of the 3 lines was similar to the original
❏ Lines were obviously similar/different
❏ Confederates were asked to give wrong answers to test conformity
❏ There were 18 trials, 12 of which confederates gave wrong answers
,Conformity - Asch’s research
Task 1:
Using the images below and from what you remember what were the findings from
Asch’s baseline study :
,Conformity - Asch’s research
Baseline findings:
❏ 32% of Pp conformed in each trial
❏ 75% of Pp conformed at least once
❏ 5% conformed in all 12 wrong answer trials
❏ Asch extended his baseline study by investigated variables which may
increase/ decrease conformity levels:
❏ 1. Group size
❏ 2. Unanimity
❏ 3. Task difficulty
,Conformity - Asch’s research
Variables investigated by Asch:
1. Group size
❏ Asch varied the # of confederates from 1 to 15 (total group size = 2-16)
❏ Found that conformity increased with group size but only up to a point
❏ Up to 3 Pps = conformity to the wrong answer increased to 31.8% but levelled off with
more confederates past 3
1. Unanimity
❏ Asch tested if the presence of a non conforming member had any affect on
conformity
❏ Asch found that the genuine Pp conformed less in the presence of a dissenter
❏ The rate decreased to < ¼ of the level when it was the majority was unanimous
❏ This was true even when the dissenter disagreed w/ the Pp
1. Task difficulty
❏ Asch made the task more difficult by making the comparison lines more similar
❏ Asch found that when the line judgement task was made more difficult that the rate of
conformity increased
,Conformity - Asch’s research
Evaluation: P Ethical issues
P Research support E deception was involved in two ways = 1. Pps
believed the other Pps were real when
E Todd Lucas = asked Pp to solve easy and
hard maths problems actually they were confederates 2. The aim of
the study (they were told it was to test vision)
Pps were given answers from 3 other
confederates (which they believed were real = No informed consent
Pps)
= Embarrassment
Harder qs = Pps conformed more
C future research may be difficult to carry out
C Shows that Asch was right in saying that as people lose trust
task difficulty is a variable that affects
conformity
,Conformity - Asch’s research
Evaluation: P Asch’s research has limited application
P Task + situation was artificial E Asch’s sample contained only american men
E picking the wrong line had no real Conformity rates may be different in women
consequences as they would in real life such and in other cultures as a whole
as jury decision making
C lacks generalisabilty to women and other
C we cannot generalise findings to real life cultures which makes research less useful
situation
, Conformity - Asch’s research
Review questions: Review answers:
1. Who was the sample in Asch’s research 1. American men
into conformity? 2. Group size, unanimity, task difficulty
2. What were the 3 variable Asch found to 3. 75%
affect conformity?
4. 32%
3. What percentage of Pps conformed at
5. 5%
least once
4. What percentage of Pps conformed in 6. Above 3
each trial 7. Easy and hard maths problems
5. What percentage of Pps conformed in all
12 trials
6. When did the level of conformity level off
in terms of group size?
7. What evidence did Todd Lucas provide to
support Asch’s research?
Social influence
, Participant/s = Pp/Pps
With = w/
Abbreviations: Number = #
Questions = qs
Without = w/o
,Conformity - Asch’s research
Baseline procedure:
❏ Participants were American males
❏ Participants had to complete a line judgement task
❏ Naive Pp was put in a room w/ 7 other males who were confederates
❏ Pp believed that the other confederates were actual Participants
❏ Genuine Pp always sat at near the end of the group order
❏ Pps had to state which of the 3 lines was similar to the original
❏ Lines were obviously similar/different
❏ Confederates were asked to give wrong answers to test conformity
❏ There were 18 trials, 12 of which confederates gave wrong answers
,Conformity - Asch’s research
Task 1:
Using the images below and from what you remember what were the findings from
Asch’s baseline study :
,Conformity - Asch’s research
Baseline findings:
❏ 32% of Pp conformed in each trial
❏ 75% of Pp conformed at least once
❏ 5% conformed in all 12 wrong answer trials
❏ Asch extended his baseline study by investigated variables which may
increase/ decrease conformity levels:
❏ 1. Group size
❏ 2. Unanimity
❏ 3. Task difficulty
,Conformity - Asch’s research
Variables investigated by Asch:
1. Group size
❏ Asch varied the # of confederates from 1 to 15 (total group size = 2-16)
❏ Found that conformity increased with group size but only up to a point
❏ Up to 3 Pps = conformity to the wrong answer increased to 31.8% but levelled off with
more confederates past 3
1. Unanimity
❏ Asch tested if the presence of a non conforming member had any affect on
conformity
❏ Asch found that the genuine Pp conformed less in the presence of a dissenter
❏ The rate decreased to < ¼ of the level when it was the majority was unanimous
❏ This was true even when the dissenter disagreed w/ the Pp
1. Task difficulty
❏ Asch made the task more difficult by making the comparison lines more similar
❏ Asch found that when the line judgement task was made more difficult that the rate of
conformity increased
,Conformity - Asch’s research
Evaluation: P Ethical issues
P Research support E deception was involved in two ways = 1. Pps
believed the other Pps were real when
E Todd Lucas = asked Pp to solve easy and
hard maths problems actually they were confederates 2. The aim of
the study (they were told it was to test vision)
Pps were given answers from 3 other
confederates (which they believed were real = No informed consent
Pps)
= Embarrassment
Harder qs = Pps conformed more
C future research may be difficult to carry out
C Shows that Asch was right in saying that as people lose trust
task difficulty is a variable that affects
conformity
,Conformity - Asch’s research
Evaluation: P Asch’s research has limited application
P Task + situation was artificial E Asch’s sample contained only american men
E picking the wrong line had no real Conformity rates may be different in women
consequences as they would in real life such and in other cultures as a whole
as jury decision making
C lacks generalisabilty to women and other
C we cannot generalise findings to real life cultures which makes research less useful
situation
, Conformity - Asch’s research
Review questions: Review answers:
1. Who was the sample in Asch’s research 1. American men
into conformity? 2. Group size, unanimity, task difficulty
2. What were the 3 variable Asch found to 3. 75%
affect conformity?
4. 32%
3. What percentage of Pps conformed at
5. 5%
least once
4. What percentage of Pps conformed in 6. Above 3
each trial 7. Easy and hard maths problems
5. What percentage of Pps conformed in all
12 trials
6. When did the level of conformity level off
in terms of group size?
7. What evidence did Todd Lucas provide to
support Asch’s research?
