Asch's standard line study
- Created by: DanThe
- Created on: 02-05-17 11:54
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- Asch's line study
- Procedure
- 5-7 participants per group. Each group was presented with a standard line and three comparison lines. Participants had to say aloud which comparison line matched the standard line in length
- In each group there was only one true participant the remaining 6 were confederates. The confederates were told to give the incorrect answer on 12 out of 18 trails
- Findings
- participants conformed on 32% of the critical trials where confederates gave the wrong answers. Additionally 75% of the sample conformed to the majority on at least one trial.
- Evaluation
- Low ecological validity. Does not represent real life very well
- Sampling issues, only carried out with men
- Deception, P's were told it was a study about perception of lines.
- P's may have felt embarrassed when told the true aim of the study, therefore potential psychological harm of P's
- Variations
- Task difficulty
- When we are uncertain about something, we conform far more
- Asch Asch altered the (comparison) lines (e.g. A, B, C) making them more similar in length. Because it was harder to judge the correct answer conformity increased
- Informational influence
- The desire to be right – when we conform because we are unsure of the situation or lack knowledge, so we look to others who we believe may have more information than us. This explanation tends to lead to internalisation.
- Unanimity
- A person is more likely to conform when all members of the group agree and give the same answer
- found that even the presence of just one confederate that goes against the majority choice can reduce conformity as much as 80%.
- Group size
- An individual is more likely to conform when in a larger group.
- Asch altered the number of confederates in his study to see how this effected conformity. He found that conformity increases with each extra person (i.e. confederate) in the group
- However, conformity did not increase much after the group size was about 4/5.
- Because conformity does does not seem to increase in groups larger than 4, this is considered the optimal group size.
- Normative influence
- The desire to be liked – when we conform to fit in with the group because we don’t want to appear foolish or be left out.
- Task difficulty
- Procedure
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