Variables Affecting Conformity

Question 1

What were the 3 factors affecting conformity?

Answer 1

Group size
Unanimity of the majority
Task difficulty

Question 2

How did Asch investigate group size?

Answer 2

Changed the amount of confederates in each group and saw how the participants would respond

Question 3

What did Asch find about group size?

Answer 3

Low conformity rates with 1 or 2 confederates + 1 participant

If majority was 3 confederates + 1 participant, conformity rate was about 30% and this didn’t increase much higher with more confederates

Question 4

What is unanimity of the majority?

Answer 4

When everyone in the group agrees with the same answer (right or wrong)

Question 5

How did Asch investigate unanimity of the majority?

Answer 5

He told the confederates to give different answers in different trials

Question 6

What did Asch find about unanimity of the majority?

Answer 6

1 confederate said correct answer - conform rates dropped to 5.5%

1 confederate said a different wrong answer to the majority - conformity rates dropped to 9%

Question 7

How did Asch change the task difficulty?

Answer 7

He changed the lengths of the lines to make them more similar - make it more difficult

Question 8

What did Asch find about task difficulty?

Answer 8

Higher difficulty increased conformity up to a certain point - some people didn’t conform at all - suggests conformity affected by task difficulty and personality

Question 9

What did Lucas (2006) find about task difficulty?

Answer 9

It is moderated by self-efficacy

Question 10

What are the strengths of Asch’s study on the variables affecting conformity?

Answer 10

It being a lab study involving confederates allowed Asch to control all variables accurate - establish cause & effect

Research Support for Task Difficulty - Lucas (2006)

Question 11

What are the weaknesses of Asch’s study on the variables affecting conformity?

Answer 11

Low ecological validity

Androcentric

Ethical issues

Question 12

How does Asch’s study lack ecological validity?

Answer 12

Demand characteristics - participant knew they were in a study
Judging length of lines isn’t something you do everyday
Groups don’t resemble groups from everyday life - confederates used

CAN’T GENERALISE FINDINGS TO EVERYDAY LIFE

Question 13

How is Asch’s study androcentric?

Answer 13

ALL PARTICIPANTS ARE MEN - Neto (1995) found women more conformist than men

Findings cannot be generalised to women who have been shown to respond differently to conformity

Shows gender bias - assumes conformity operates similarly across genders

Lack population validity & reduces generalisability of conclusions

Question 14

What are the ethical issues on Asch’s study on the factors affecting conformity?

Answer 14

Deception involved - confederates
12 critical trials may have caused psychological harm to the participant - confused why everyone gave wrong answer = stress
Question fully conformed consent - debrief but not on everything

Question 15

How does Lucas’s study (2006) support Asch’s findings for task difficulty?

Answer 15

He found that conformity rates were higher on more difficult questions and when the participants said they weren’t as good at math

Question 16

How is the deception in Asch’s study argued to be necessary?

Answer 16

If participants knew the real aim, they would have changed their behaviour which would undermine the study