Conformity: Asch's research (PAGE 12)

?
  • Created by: danpurdy1
  • Created on: 25-02-17 22:55
What did Asch research in 1951?
Conformity
1 of 24
How many participants did Asch recruit?
123 American male students
2 of 24
How was each participant tested?
Individually with a group of between six and eight confederates
3 of 24
What did participants have to identify on each trial?
The length of a standard line
4 of 24
What happened on the first few trials?
Confederates gave correct answers but then all selected the same wrong answers
5 of 24
How many trials did each participant complete?
18 (including 12 'critical trials' in which confederates gave the wrong answers)
6 of 24
What did the naïve participants give?
A wrong answer 36.8% of the time
7 of 24
What do Asch's results show?
A high level of conformity called the Asch effect
8 of 24
Were there considerable individual differences?
Yes
9 of 24
What were the considerable individual differences?
25% of the participants never gave a wrong answer so 75% conformed at least once
10 of 24
Why did most participants conform?
To avoid rejection (normative social influence)
11 of 24
Asch's participants showed signs of what?
Compliance (going alone with other publicly but not privately)
12 of 24
What did Asch study in 1955?
Variables affecting conformity
13 of 24
What are the three variables affecting conformity?
Group size, unanimity, task difficulty
14 of 24
How did Asch alter the group size?
By changing the number of confederates between 1 and 15
15 of 24
How did Asch alter unanimity?
Introducing a truthful confederat or a confederate who was dissenting but inaccurate
16 of 24
How did Asch alter the task difficulty?
Made the line-judging task harder by making the stimulus line and the comparison lines more similar in length
17 of 24
What was the conformity level to the wrong answer when there was two confederates?
13.6%
18 of 24
What was the conformity level to the wrong answer when there was three confederates?
31.8%
19 of 24
Did adding any more than three confederates make any difference to conformity levels?
No, it made little difference
20 of 24
How was conformity levels affected by the presence of a dissenting confederate?
It reduced conformity, whether the dissenter was giving the right or wrong answer
21 of 24
What did having a dissenter enable a naïve participant to do?
Behave more independently
22 of 24
What happened to conformity levels when the task was more difficult?
It increased
23 of 24
Which explantion of conformity plays a greater role when the task becomes harder?
Informational social influence (ISI) - because the situation is more ambiguous
24 of 24

Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

How many participants did Asch recruit?

Back

123 American male students

Card 3

Front

How was each participant tested?

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

What did participants have to identify on each trial?

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

What happened on the first few trials?

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
View more cards

Comments

No comments have yet been made

Similar Psychology resources:

See all Psychology resources »See all Conformity resources »