Conformity: a change in a person’s behaviour/opinions due
to real or imagined pressure from a person/group
BASELINE PROCEDURE - Artificial task/situation
Asch (1951) Ptps may have responded to demand
123 American males characteristics as they knew they were part
1 ‘real’ participant and 6-8 confederates of a study.
Line on one card clearly matched either A/B/C Task was trivial and there was no reason to
Say out loud which was the same as X. conform.
Confederates gave same incorrect answer. Lacks ecological validity/mundane realism,
Participants conformed 36.8% of the time. can’t generalise to situations where
25% never conformed to give wrong answer. consequences of conformity are more
important.
GROUP SIZE - Limited application – American male ptps
Varied number of confederates from 1-15 Other research suggests women conform
Curvilinear relationship: conformity increased more (concerned about acceptance/social
with group size but only to a certain point. relationships).
3 confederates made conformity rise to 31.8%, USA is individualistic – conformity studies in
but adding more just made it level off. China show higher rates (Bond and Smith).
Suggests most people sensitive to the views of Findings don’t tell us about women/other
others – small number of confederates swayed cultures.
opinion.
+ Research support for effects of task difficulty
UNANIMITY Todd Lucas et al: ptps given easy/hard
Confederate disagreed with other confederates. maths problems and possible (wrong)
Sometimes gave correct answer, sometimes gave answers from 3 students.
a different wrong answer. Ptps conformed more when problems were
Both variations – ptp conformed less with harder.
presence of dissenter. Asch is correct in claiming task difficulty
Rate decreased to less than ¼ of the level of affects conformity.
conformity when confederates were unanimous.
Naïve ptp felt free to behave independently.
Suggests influence of majority depends on
unanimity/non-conformity more likely when
unanimity is challenged.
TASK DIFFICULTY
Made stimulus and comparison lines more
similar, therefore harder to see the differences.
Conformity increased.
Ambiguity means you look for guidance from
other people, and assume they are right (ISI).
to real or imagined pressure from a person/group
BASELINE PROCEDURE - Artificial task/situation
Asch (1951) Ptps may have responded to demand
123 American males characteristics as they knew they were part
1 ‘real’ participant and 6-8 confederates of a study.
Line on one card clearly matched either A/B/C Task was trivial and there was no reason to
Say out loud which was the same as X. conform.
Confederates gave same incorrect answer. Lacks ecological validity/mundane realism,
Participants conformed 36.8% of the time. can’t generalise to situations where
25% never conformed to give wrong answer. consequences of conformity are more
important.
GROUP SIZE - Limited application – American male ptps
Varied number of confederates from 1-15 Other research suggests women conform
Curvilinear relationship: conformity increased more (concerned about acceptance/social
with group size but only to a certain point. relationships).
3 confederates made conformity rise to 31.8%, USA is individualistic – conformity studies in
but adding more just made it level off. China show higher rates (Bond and Smith).
Suggests most people sensitive to the views of Findings don’t tell us about women/other
others – small number of confederates swayed cultures.
opinion.
+ Research support for effects of task difficulty
UNANIMITY Todd Lucas et al: ptps given easy/hard
Confederate disagreed with other confederates. maths problems and possible (wrong)
Sometimes gave correct answer, sometimes gave answers from 3 students.
a different wrong answer. Ptps conformed more when problems were
Both variations – ptp conformed less with harder.
presence of dissenter. Asch is correct in claiming task difficulty
Rate decreased to less than ¼ of the level of affects conformity.
conformity when confederates were unanimous.
Naïve ptp felt free to behave independently.
Suggests influence of majority depends on
unanimity/non-conformity more likely when
unanimity is challenged.
TASK DIFFICULTY
Made stimulus and comparison lines more
similar, therefore harder to see the differences.
Conformity increased.
Ambiguity means you look for guidance from
other people, and assume they are right (ISI).
