Asch's conformity experiment

Created by: jenko118
Created on: 01-05-19 14:51


	Asch's conformity experiment
	Advantages Over all the tests participants conformed 36% of the time Participants said they conformed as they didn't want to be rejected by anyone (an example of normative social influence) and that they still privately believed their own opinion (an example of compliance) Only 25% of participants didn't conform which means 75% of participants conformed at least once Group size: with 2 confederates participants conformity was 13% and with 3 confederates conformity was 31%, any other increase of confederates had no impact Unanimity: having a dissenter made conformity drop as having a partner made the participant act more independently, whether they gave the right or wrong answer Task difficulty: as the tasks got harder conformity rose as participants were not confident and the situation became ambiguous Ethical issues: Asch's findings outweighed the costs of the experiment as he made a possible breakthrough in conformity studies	Disadvantages The experiment has been described as 'a child of the times': Perrin and Spencer (1980) recreated Asch's experiment but with engineering students conformity levels were less. This may have been because America was more of a conformist time in the 1950's. The Asch effect has not been consistent over time. The situation and task was too artificial: participants knew they were in an experiment so responded to DEMAND CHARACTERISTICS. The task findings did not GENERALISE everyday situations as the task was so trivial. The experiment may be different for different groups: Neto (1995) proposed that america is an individualistic culture so conformity levels may be less than a place like China (a collective culture) were people aren't as independant The experiment may be different in different situations: Williams and Sogon (1995) found that despite predictions that participants would be more conformist to strangers, they were more conformist in groups with friends in Ethical issues: Asch's experiment was unethical as he deceived his participants. This may cause people not to trust psychologists and be less willing to participate in future experiments. He was have also caused emotional distress as he put them in a situation were they felt the need to conform.
	Evaluation Asch (1951) gathered 123 American men and conducted an experiment to test different levels of conformity. Each participant was put through 18 trials with 6-8 confederates. They were asked to look at two boards one with one line on and one with three lines, they were asked to match the first bored with a line on the second. The confederates gave the wrong answer 12 out of the 18 trials. He found that overall the participants gave the wrong answer 36% of the time. 25% of the participants never gave a wrong answer, so 75% gave at least on answer. When questioned at the end of the experiment the participants claimed they gave the wrong answer to avoid rejection from the rest of the group (which is an example of normative social influence) and that they secretly still believed their answers (compliance). When testing the variables on the experiment (1955) he tested the groups size, he found that with two confederates conformity was 13%, with three confederates the conformity was a massive increase in conformity at 31%, any other increase after that had no real effect. When increasing the task difficulty he found that conformity increased as the situation became ambiguous and participants became less confident so looked for others for help (an example for informative social influence). When testing unanimity, a dissenter was added, whether they gave the wrong or right answer the participants acted more independently and conformity dropped.

Asch's conformity experiment

Advantages

Over all the tests participants conformed 36% of the time
Participants said they conformed as they didn't want to be rejected by anyone (an example of normative social influence) and that they still privately believed their own opinion (an example of compliance)
Only 25% of participants didn't conform which means 75% of participants conformed at least once
Group size: with 2 confederates participants conformity was 13% and with 3 confederates conformity was 31%, any other increase of confederates had no impact
Unanimity: having a dissenter made conformity drop as having a partner made the participant act more independently, whether they gave the right or wrong answer
Task difficulty: as the tasks got harder conformity rose as participants were not confident and the situation became ambiguous
Ethical issues: Asch's findings outweighed the costs of the experiment as he made a possible breakthrough in conformity studies

Disadvantages

The experiment has been described as 'a child of the times': Perrin and Spencer (1980) recreated Asch's experiment but with engineering students conformity levels were less. This may have been because America was more of a conformist time in the 1950's. The Asch effect has not been consistent over time.
The situation and task was too artificial: participants knew they were in an experiment so responded to DEMAND CHARACTERISTICS. The task findings did not GENERALISE everyday situations as the task was so trivial.
The experiment may be different for different groups: Neto (1995) proposed that america is an individualistic culture so conformity levels may be less than a place like China (a collective culture) were people aren't as independant
The experiment may be different in different situations: Williams and Sogon (1995) found that despite predictions that participants would be more conformist to strangers, they were more conformist in groups with friends in
Ethical issues: Asch's experiment was unethical as he deceived his participants. This may cause people not to trust psychologists and be less willing to participate in future experiments. He was have also caused emotional distress as he put them in a situation were they felt the need to conform.

Evaluation

Asch (1951) gathered 123 American men and conducted an experiment to test different levels of conformity. Each participant was put through 18 trials with 6-8 confederates. They were asked to look at two boards one with one line on and one with three lines, they were asked to match the first bored with a line on the second. The confederates gave the wrong answer 12 out of the 18 trials. He found that overall the participants gave the wrong answer 36% of the time. 25% of the participants never gave a wrong answer, so 75% gave at least on answer. When questioned at the end of the experiment the participants claimed they gave the wrong answer to avoid rejection from the rest of the group (which is an example of normative social influence) and that they secretly still believed their answers (compliance). When testing the variables on the experiment (1955) he tested the groups size, he found that with two confederates conformity was 13%, with three confederates the conformity was a massive increase in conformity at 31%, any other increase after that had no real effect. When increasing the task difficulty he found that conformity increased as the situation became ambiguous and participants became less confident so looked for others for help (an example for informative social influence). When testing unanimity, a dissenter was added, whether they gave the wrong or right answer the participants acted more independently and conformity dropped.

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Asch's conformity experiment