conformity

Question 1

what is conformity

Answer 1

when a person changes thier behaviour or opinions as a result of real or imagined pressure from another person or groups of people

Question 2

what was Asch’s study aim

Answer 2

To investigate the degree to which individuals would conform to a majority who gave obviously wrong answers

Question 3

Asch’s procedure

Answer 3

· 123 American male student volunteers took part in what they were told was a study of visual perception.
· Individual participants were placed in groups of 6-8 confederates (the participant did not know that the others were confederates).
· They were seated around a table and were asked to say which comparison line (A, B or C) was the same length as the stimulus line (X) on 18 different trials. The answer was always obvious.
· They took turns to call out their answers with the real participant always answering second to last or last.
· Twelve of the 18 trials were ‘critical’ trials where the confederates gave identical wrong answers. For the first six trials, the confederates gave the right answers. A trial = one occasion identifying the length of the stimulus line.
· There was also a control group of 36 participants who were tested individually on 20 trials to test how accurate individual judgements were.

Question 4

Asch’s findings

Answer 4

• The naïve participant gave the wrong answer 36.8% of the time.
• 75% conformed to at least one wrong answer, and 25% never conformed
• The control group had an error rate of 0.04% (3 mistakes out of 720 trials), which shows how obvious the correct answers were.
• post-expeirment interviews conducted

Question 5

what did the post-experiment interviews find

Answer 5

• The majority of participants conformed publicly to avoid disapproval from other group members but continued privately to trust their own perceptions and judgements (NSI)
• Some participants believed that their perception must actually be wrong and so conformed (ISI)
• Some participants had doubts concerning the accuracy of their judgements and so conformed to the majority view ()

Question 6

Asch’s conclusions

Answer 6

• The judgements of individuals are affected by majority opinions, even when the majority are obviously wrong (the task is unambiguous) i.e. People conform even when the majority is obviously incorrect
• As most conformed publicly, but not privately, it suggests that they were motivated by normative social influence (conformity to avoid rejection).

Question 7

what did Asch change in his variaitons

Answer 7

• group size
• unanimity of group
• task dificulty

Question 8

asch’s group size variation findings and conclusions

Answer 8

• very little conformity when the majority consisted of just one confederate
• 13% whith 2 confederates
• 31.8% with 3 confederates
• further increase in number of confederates didn’t increase conformity - small majority is not sufficient for influence to be exerted and size of group important to certain extent
• supports Normative social influence because the more people present in the majority, the greater the potential for rejection and so participants are more likely to conform to avoid this rejection (more normative social influence).

Question 9

asch’s unanimity variation findings and conclusions

Answer 9

• one confederate gave a different answer
• if gave correct answer conformity dropped from 36.8% to 5%
• if gave wrong answer comformity dropped from 36.8% to 9%
• could be due to less NSI - the dissenter makes participants believe that they are less likely to be rejected by the majority if they don’t conform so they are less likely to conform
• could be due ot less ISI - the dissenter makes participants believe that the majority are less likely to be correct so they are less likely to conform in order to be so

Question 10

asch’s task dificulty variation findings and conclusions

Answer 10

• made the difference between the line lengths much smaller so that the correct answer was less obvious and the task much more difficult
• level of conformity increased
• ISI - the task is more ambiguous and so we are more likely to look to other people for guidance and to assume that they are right and we are wrong.

Question 11

what is compliance

Answer 11

• Public but not private
• Change in our behaviour/ views lasts as long as the group is monitoring us
• Temporary change in views and so weak
• To gain approval/avoid disapproval or rejection

Question 12

what is identification

Answer 12

• Public, and sometimes private
• Views are maintained whilst a part of the group but are not maintained when they leave the group
• Permanent whilst in the group but only whilst you’re a member of the group
• Because you want to be apart of the group

Question 13

what si internalisation

Answer 13

• Public and private acceptance
• Permanant change in behaviour even when the group is absent
• Permanent change in views so strong
• Genuinely accept the group norms

Question 14

what is Normative social influence

Answer 14

• conform to gain approval, be liked or accepted, avoid rejection
• more likely to conform if they feel their behaviour and attitudes do not align with those of the group
  conform when:
• in situations with strangers where you may feel concerned about rejection
• With people you know because we are most concerned about the social approval of our friends
• May be more pronounced in stressful situations where people have greater need for support
• linked with compliance

Question 15

what is informational social influence

Answer 15

• An explanation of conformity that says we agree with the opinion of the majority because we believe it is correct. We accept it because we want to be correct as well
• leads to internalisation
  conform:
• in situations that are new to a person so you don’t now what is right
• If there is some ambiguity so it isn’t clear what is right
• In crisis situation where decisions have to be made quickly and we assume the group is more likely to be right