Majority Influence
- Created by: Emma Butler
- Created on: 11-04-13 14:37
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- Ash (1956)
- The Study : 123 male American undergraduate students were shown a series of lines when seated in small groups. Each group was made up with a majority of confederates all giving an incorrect answer. There was 12 critical trials.
- Findings: 36.8% of responses made by true participants were incorrect i.e. conformed. 1/4 of participants never conformed.
- Reasons Behind conformity
- Distortion of Perception - a small number came to see the lines the same way as the majority
- Distortion of Judgement - they felt doubt about the accuracy of their judgement and therefore yielded to the majority view
- Distortion of Action - the majority of participants who conformed continued to privately to trust their own judgement but changed their public behaviour, giving inncorrect answers to avoid disapproval
- Variations of Asch study
- Difficulty of Task: Asch changed the design of the task to make it more difficult (shortened the length difference between lines)
- The Size of the Majority : Asch found that there was a pivotal number for a majority - 3. Any less and the participant was hesitant and conformity rates were low and any higher didn't seem to affect the conformity rates any further
- Unanimity of Majority: When another dissenter (whether another participant or confederate) conformity rates dropped dramatically to just 5.5%
- Ethical Issues
- Deception ; participants lead to believe partaking in a sight test. Also lead to believe everyone in the room was a true participant when most were confederates
- Informed Consent: Or the lack of. As participants didn't know of true aims they couldn't give informed consent
- Validity
- Ecological Validity: the task is a insignificant one. It has not ramifications or consequences from not conforming
- Population Validity : In his original study Asch just tested male Americans. This does not provide a balanced portrayal of wider society
- Historical Validity : Asch's study was many a time called a 'child of its time' . The study was conducted during the McCarthyism period of 1950 when people we really affraid to to be different
- The Study : 123 male American undergraduate students were shown a series of lines when seated in small groups. Each group was made up with a majority of confederates all giving an incorrect answer. There was 12 critical trials.
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