What are the two types of conformity?
Normative (to avoid rejection) and Informational (when the correct behaviour is unknown in a situation)
Nominal (to avoid rejection) and Informational ( when the correct behaviour is unknown in a situation)
Nominal (to avoid rejection) and Interpretive (when the correct behaviour is unknown in a situation)
Jenness (1932) asked participants to estimate how far a spot of light was moving, first individually and then in a group.
Asch believed that Sherif (1935) and Jenness (1932) were limited because...
They did not have a large enough sample.
They only investigated conformity in an ambiguous situation.
They were both from a time with different conformity levels.
What are the aims of Asch's research?
To investigate the effects of group pressure in an ambiguous situation.
To investigate the effects of group pressure in an unambiguous situation.
To investigate the effects of informational social influence.
There were 123 participants in Asch's study.
The participants were an opportunity sample from 4 different universities.
The participants were...
all male and American
all women and American
all women and British
told the true nature of the research.
deceived, believing that it was a test of visual perception.
Each trial involved one naive participant and how many confederates?
4-6
5-7
6-8
Each group was presented with two cards- one with a standard line and the other with three comparison lines, one the same length as the one on the card, the other two substantially different.
The confederates gave the wrong answer...
12 of the 18 trials
10 of the 20 trials
5 of the 25 trials
Which of the below were variations in the study...
Replications were conducted with various group sizes from 1 to 15 members
Using a truthful partner where one confederate gave correct answers.
The effect of having a dissenter, some gave answers that disagreed with the majority and the participant.
A partner who changes his mind- begins by giving correct responses and then joins the majority for the last 6 trials.
A partner who leaves- gives correct responses for the first 6 trials and then leaves for an appointment.
Participants were later debriefed and ...
interviewed about their behaviour.
asked to give their opinions on the study.
How many participants gave the wrong answer in the control trial?
4%
96%
1%
The participant's gave the wrong (conforming answer) 39% of the time
Which of these are correct?
25% of participants never gave a conforming answer
50% conformed and 50% never did
75% of participants conformed at least once
Independent Participants felt confident in their judgement and felt obliged to say what they thought to be the right answer.
Extremely compliant Participant's underestimated how many times they had conformed. They explained their compliance as...
Them not wanting to spoil the results
Them not wanting to upset the researcher
Them feeling that they were "deficient" in comparison to the rest of the group and that they had to hide this.
In the variation of size of the group, 1 confederate meant that the Participant swayed very little
With a truthful partner, participants conformity was 1/2 of what it was in the baseline study.
With a dissenting partner, the conformity of participants reduced to 1/3 of what it was in the baseline study.
A partner who changed their mind had a large effect on the conformity of the participant.
The participant reverted back to the majority when the partner leaves for a good reason.
What were the conclusions of the study?
Overall- there is a strong tendency to conform to the majority in a situation where the answer is clear.
Overall- there is a weak tendency to conform to the majority in a situation where the answer is clear.
The other conclusions were...
That there must be a majority of at least three to have a strong effect.
The presence of dissenters reduces the impact of the majority.
The majority must be unanimous to exert strong conformity in participants.
