Conformity: Asch's research

Perrin and Spencer found just one conforming response in 396 trials. Pariticpants (UK engineering students) felt more confident measuring lines than Asch's original sample, so were less conformist.

Also, the 1950's were a conformist time in America and people might be less likely to conform in subsequent decades.

The Asch effect is not consistent over time, so is not an enduring feature of human behaviour. 

Participants knew they were in a study so may have just responsded to demand characteristics.

The line task was trivial so there was no reason not to conform. Also, the naive participants were in a 'group', but not like groups found in everyday life.

Findings do not generalise to everyday situations where consequences of conformity are important, and where we interact with groups more directly. 

Only men were tested by Asch. Neto suggested that women might be more conformist, possibly because they are more concerned about social relationships (and being accepted).

Participants were from the USA, an individualist culture (people are more concerned with themselves than their social group). Smith and Bond suggest that conformity rates are higher in collectivist cultures (e.g. China) which are more concerned with group needs.  

This suggests that conformity levels are sometimes even higher than Asch found; his findings may be limited to American men. 

Participants answered out loud and were with a group of strangers they wanted to impress. Conformity could be higher than usual. 

But Williams and Sogon found conformity was higher when the majority were friends rather than strangers. 

Therefore the Asch effect varies depending on circumstances. 

Naive participants were deceived. They thought the others in the procdure (confederates) were genuine.

But this ethical cost should be weighed against the benefits of the study.

The main benefit was highlighting people's susceptibilty to group conformity and the variables affecting it.