Research Studies - Conformity

Seite 1

Asch's Line Study

AO1

Aim: to investigate whether people would conform to the majority in situations where an answer was obvious.

Procedure:

In Asch's study, there were 5-7 participants per group. Each group was presented with a standard line and three comparison lines. Participants had to say - aloud - which comparison line matched the standard line in length. In each group there was only one true participant, the remaining 6 were confederates. The confederates were told to give the incorrect answer on 12 out of 18 trials.

Results:

True participants conformed on 32% of the critical trials where the confederates gave the wrong answers. Additionally 75% of the sample conformed to the majority on at least one trial.

AO3

This study lacks ecological validity as it was based on peoples' perception of lines, this does not reflect the complexity of real-life conformity.

There are also sampling issues regarding this study as the study was only carried out on men, thus the sample was gender bias and therefore the results cannot be applied to females. The sample, therefore, lacks population validity.

Moreover, there are ethical issues regarding Asch's study. There was deception as participants were told the study was about perception of lines. As a result, they could not give informed consent. Furthermore, it is possible that the participants may have felt embarrassed when the true nature of the study was revealed - thus could potentially put them through some form of psychological harm. However, Asch's study did debrief st the end.

For extra AO3 points, link Asch's results to theories/reasons why people may conform to the majority. For instance, some participants said they conformed to fit in with the group, this claim coincides (supports) the idea of normative social influence, which states that people conform to fit whilst privately disagreeing with the majority.

Seite 2

Jenness' Bean Jar Experiment

AO1

Jenness carried out a study into conformity. In his experiment, participants were asked to estimate how many beans they thought were in a jar. Each participant had to make an individual estimate, and then do the same as a group.

He found that when the task was carried out in a social group, the participants would report estimates of roughly the same value (even though they had previously reported quite different estimates as individuals).

The study was successful in showing majority influence, thus providing that individuals' behaviour and beliefs can be influenced by a group. Additionally, this is likely to be an example of informational social influence, as participants would be uncertain about the actual number of beans in the jar and so conform to the majority estimate.