1. conformity
conformity
conformity
conformity
conformity

2. X A B C

3. X A B C

4. X A B C

5. Conformity (Majority Influence)
“A change in behaviour or opinions as a result of group pressure”

6. Asch (1951) A research study of conformity to group pressure
Will someone go along with an answer that is obviously wrong?
What is more important – being right or fitting in?
Asch did an experiment using “confederates” (who deliberately lied) in order to fool naïve participants (who had no idea what was going on).

7. Method:
A B C
Asked in this direction, with NP near the end; what would he say?
C C C C C NP C
C = confederate, NP = naïve participant

8. Asch (1951)
When all the confederates gave the right answer, the naïve participants made almost no errors
When the confederates gave the wrong answer, the naïve participant went along with it 37% of the time
Of the participants:
75% conformed at least once
5% conformed every time
25% never conformed

9. Why would someone go along with an answer they knew to be wrong?

10. Asch (1951)
Participants gave reasons for why they conformed, including:
They genuinely doubted own judgement
They didn’t want to ‘upset the experiment’
They didn’t want to appear odd
How would you feel if you were a naïve participant in Asch’s experiment?

11. Other Studies of Conformity
Situations where there is no clear cut right answer
Jenness (1932) – estimating the number of beans in a jar
Sherif (1935) – estimating how far a light appeared to move

12. Conformity Processes Normative Social Influence
We want to be liked
Informational Social Influence
We want to be right

13. Your turn … Write a sentence or two under each of the headings AIM
METHOD
RESULT
CONCLUSION
- for this experiment by Asch

14. Evaluation Complete these sentences to evaluate this experiment:
+ This was the first conformity e………….. that was not ambiguous
+ It was a lab experiment and so easily c……………….. and r……………………
- But because it was a lab experiment, it was artificial - i.e. not ………………. …………..
- Participants were deceived, confused & embarrassed so it was un…………
- Only white American college students were used so the results are not g……………………….
- It all happened 50 years ago, so the results may not be …………………………………………………………..