conformity: aschs research

participants

123 american males undergraduates,

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procedure

they where shown 2 cards of lines, 1 was standard and 3 where samples that they had too choose. 1 of the 3 was the same length as the standard line and the other 2 where clearly different. the ppt was put in a room with 6-8 ppt

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on the first few trials the confederates gave the correct anwsers then they started to deviate, on 12/18 they all chose the wrong one.

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findings

on average the ppt gave a wrong anwsers 36.8% of the time. 75% of the 123 people conformed at least once and 25% did not. when interview most said they conformed so they avioded rejection (nsi)

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aschs variations

group size: he concluded there was no need for more than 3 31.8%. unanimity: he introduced a confed whom agreed with the ppt to see if this affects conformity he found that conformity reduced by a quater and gained more independance. task difficulty:

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asch mae the task more difficult by making the 3 lines more similiar, he found conformity increased ven more under these conditions and concluded this was evidence of informational social influence, this is only when the task gets harder. this is bec

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ause the task is more ambiguous so we are more likely to look to others for guidence and to assume that they are correct and that we are wrong

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evaluation: a child of its time weakness

perrin and spencer 1980 repeated achs orginal syudy withh engineering and maths students. only one student conformed out of 396. it may be that they where confident due to there professions but it may have been that achs study was in 1950 and people

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where especially conformist at this time in america, so it was considered a social norm to comply. this is weakness as it makes the study inconsistant over time and situations, and its not a fundemental of human behaviour.

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evaluation: artifical situation and task weakness.

participants knew they where in an experiment and may have gone along with the demands of the situation; demand characteristics. the tasks where trival and so there was no reason not to conform, and according to fiske, the groups where not likely peo

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ple whom you would be in a group with. this is a limitation because it means the findings do not apply to everyday situations and this is especially true when conforming has more of a important consequence and the factor of direct contact.

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evaluation: limited application of findings weakness

only men where testsed and they was all american. other research may suggest woman are more conformist, because they care more about social relationships (neto 1995). america is also an individualist culture whereas collectivist culture studies on

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conformity, it was found that they was more conformist. (bond and smith 1996) this shos that the findings are not generaliable as other studies find much higher conformity rates.

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conformity: aschs research

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