Asch’s study of conformity involved 123 American male students who were placed in groups with 5-7 confederates. Their task was to identify which line matched the test line in length. Confederates intentionally gave incorrect answers on 12 out of the 18 trials. A control group was used, consisting of participants tested individually, who made very few errors. The purpose of the control group was to ensure that incorrect answers in other groups were due to conformity and not random errors, cementing the validity of the study by confirming the task’s simplicity.
Definitions
Social Influence
Processes by which individuals and groups change each others' attitudes and behaviour.
Conformity
Type of majority influence. An individual changes their behaviour or opinions to be the same as the group.
Obedience
An individual does what an authority figure tells them, or follows a rule set by authorities.
Minority Influence
Individual or small group persuades an individual or larger group to go along with minority instead of with the majority.
Independent Behaviour
When an individual resists the pressures to conform or to obey. Behaves how they would have done without influence of others.
Procedure of Asch’s Study
Variables of the Study
In Asch’s study, the independent variable (IV) was whether participants were given false information by confederates. The dependent variable (DV) was the number of errors made, or how often participants conformed. Participants were informed that the study was about perceiving line length, which helped avoid demand characteristics, enhancing the study's validity.
Results
The study found that participants conformed on 37% of the trials, showing an overall tendency to align with the group opinion. 75% of participants conformed at least once during the study, whereas 25% never conformed. Understanding the reasons for conformity could involve asking participants directly about their motivations.
Asch’s Variations
Group Size
Unanimity
Conformity rates varied with unanimity. When one confederate gave a different answer from the majority, conformity dropped to 9% if the answer was different, and to 5% if it was correct.
Task Difficulty
Task difficulty also affected conformity rates; more difficult tasks led to increased conformity, while easier tasks resulted in less conformity.
Explanations for Results
Two main explanations for the results are normative social influence (NSI), which relates to the desire to be liked or accepted, and informational social influence (ISI), which involves the desire to be correct or certain about the answer. These factors can explain the extent to which individuals conform, as seen in Asch's varying conditions: the baseline, different group sizes, the presence of unanimity, and the difficulty of the task.
To remember :
Asch's study on conformity demonstrates how social influence can impact individual behavior. Key concepts include conformity, affected by group size, unanimity, and task difficulty, and explained through NSI and ISI. The study's design with independent and dependent variables, alongside variations, provides valuable insights into the mechanisms of social influence and conformity.
