What did the earlier research by Sherif show?
- investigated autokinetic effect (apparent movement of stationary light in darkened room)
- variance in perceived movement but towards trial 4 they all gave similar estimates
- shows they use those around them to make sense of what’s happening
What did Asch believe that contrasted LeBon?
- didn’t believe that people conformed to groups and that their influence was mindless and irrational
- while LeBon believed in the irrational crowd, we become less civilised simply due to being
Participants?
- 123
- groups of 7-9 college students
Method?
- given 1 line and 3 comparison lines, told to say what matched it
- for first 2 trials all participants gave correct answer
- on trial 3 they gave the clearly incorrect answer (same thing happens on total of 12 of 18 trials)
Quantitative results?
- 24% never conformed
- 11% almost always conformed
- 76% conformed at least once
Qualitative results?
- none disregard the group judgement, virtually none look at them with indifference/irrelevance
- all participants experience puzzlement and confusion
- see themselves as the source of the problem
How were participants split in terms of how they interpreted the situation?
- independence (those who gave the correct answer): with or without confidence
- yielding (those who gave the incorrect answer): distortion of perception, judgement or action
How did participants try to make sense of the situation?
- politeness (first person had visual impairment, didn’t want to humiliate them)
- alternatives (others may be judging line by different standard, should trust majority)
- experiment (don’t want to ruin it)
- self-doubt (something’s wrong with me)
What occurred in the private answer condition?
-those in independence and yielding with distortion of actions gave the correct answer due to the confidentiality
What happened in the quality of the task replication?
- chosen lines depart from correct line by 1-7 inches
- had little effect on % of wrong responses
What happened in the quality of group opposition replication?
- 1 confederate in group of 16
- confederate had no quantitative impact
- group of 9 confederates and 11 genuine
- participants derive strength from support of each other, protects them from self-doubt
What’s the conclusion?
-both conformity and independence occur in group situations
How did Moscovici (1976) interpret the findings?
- interpreted as minority influence
- people in the room were the smaller amount compared to those outside the lab (friends/family)
What about the study may have induced conformity/ made ecological validity low?
- content of the task (nothing to gain, no personal relevance, it was based on fact rather than opinion)
- opposition of the majority (no chance to discuss and resolve disagreement)
What are the additional findings?
- younger children conform more
- women conform more
- collectivist cultures conform more (value harmony) compared to individualist
- reduction in conformity over decades
What is the group deficit model?
- idea that the group will pressure you to do things you don’t want to
- children are taught to resist peer pressure
- two-process theories differentiate between physical and social reality testing, and informational and normative influence
What is normative influence?
- acceptance by the group
- fear of punishment from the group
- leads to conformity
What is informational influence?
- motivation to be correct about the world
- in situations of uncertainty
- leads to conversion
What did re-evaluation of the dualisms (normative and informational influence) say?
- Ascho sstudies show all reality testing is social in some sense, all influence is normative
- Turner suggested referent informational influence (combines the 2)
What are echo chambers?
- where communication between groups breaks down, but doesn’t necessarily lead to lack of diversity in information consumption
- information is evaluated and shared based on group membership results in these chambers
What’s the positive impact of the study?
- solidarity
- cultural traditions
- social cohesion
What’s the negative impact of the study?
- rumours
- buying shares
- spreading ‘fake news’
What new research did the study inspire?
- Moscovici
- Turner
- Milgram
- Zimbardo
- Reicher
- Latane & Darley
