Asch and variations affecting conformity

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  • Asch and Variables affecting conformity
    • Variations affecting conformity
      • Group size
        • Asch found that when there was only 1 or 2 people in the majoritty group there was little conformity
          • 3% for 1 person
          • 13.6% for 2 people
        • When there was a majority group size of 3 confromity increased to 31.8%
          • Further increasing group size did not increase conformity
            • Size of majority is important but only up to a certain point
      • Unanimity
        • Presence of a confederate who gave a wrong answer reduced conformity
          • On average 5.5% conformity
        • A non conformist allowed the naive participant to act more independently
      • Task difficulty
        • When asch made the task more difficult by making the lines more similar he found the conformity increased
          • The situation was more ambiguous so participants were more likely to look to other people for guidance
        • ISI plays a greater role when a task becomes more difficult
    • Asch's line study
      • Wanted to investigate the effect a majority would have if a test was very obvious and unambiguous
      • 123 American undergraduate students
        • Took it in turns to join a group of confederates
          • The real (naive) participant didn't know the rest of people taking part were confederates
            • There were between 7 and 9 people in a group
              • All sat round a table with the real participant in last or second top last place
                • They were shown a standard line "x" and 3 comparison lines "A" "B" "C"
                  • They had to select which line matched the standard line
                    • On critical trials the confederates gave an obviously incorrect answer
      • Findings
        • 37% conformed giving an incorrect answer
        • 25% never conformed
        • 75% conformed at least once

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