Solomon Asch Conformity Study
Introduction:
Conformity occurs when individuals respond to peer- pressure by changing their behaviour to adapt to what the group of people they’re with do.
Solomon Asch conducted a study on conformity in 1951 which addressed the contemplation of conformity and non-conformity as a result of peer pressure; his studies are also relevant to pro-social and anti-social behaviour. Solomon Asch’s experiment was conducted by having five participants and they would sit along side each other at a long table where the experimenter would ask them which of three vertical lines (called the comparison line) are the same length as the standard line. The first few tests, all participants gave the same correct answer. The next test, four people gave the same answer which was incorrect, the dilemma for the fifth person was whether he should give what he thinks is the correct answer or agrees with the previous four participants. Data presented by Asch (1955) suggest that 75% of participants ‘make a mistake’ and go along with the group on at least one occasion, although 24% of participants never conformed (van Iersel et al., 2005).
The aim of this experiment was to see how many participants would conform and what influenced them to conform. It was hypothesised that the participants would conform as a result of many variables including group size, …show more content…
The reasons behind the conformity are most likely to be participants going along with the experiment that they denied what there eyes were telling them and felt pressured by group norms, size, not to mention the fact that most young people and females are the most probable people to conform (Vaughan, G. &Hogg, M. et al., 2002). Asch’s experiment is so impressive because they were only temporary groups of people were informal and dismissal had no long-term consequence but even then the power of the group was still
Conformity occurs when individuals respond to peer- pressure by changing their behaviour to adapt to what the group of people they’re with do.
Solomon Asch conducted a study on conformity in 1951 which addressed the contemplation of conformity and non-conformity as a result of peer pressure; his studies are also relevant to pro-social and anti-social behaviour. Solomon Asch’s experiment was conducted by having five participants and they would sit along side each other at a long table where the experimenter would ask them which of three vertical lines (called the comparison line) are the same length as the standard line. The first few tests, all participants gave the same correct answer. The next test, four people gave the same answer which was incorrect, the dilemma for the fifth person was whether he should give what he thinks is the correct answer or agrees with the previous four participants. Data presented by Asch (1955) suggest that 75% of participants ‘make a mistake’ and go along with the group on at least one occasion, although 24% of participants never conformed (van Iersel et al., 2005).
The aim of this experiment was to see how many participants would conform and what influenced them to conform. It was hypothesised that the participants would conform as a result of many variables including group size, …show more content…
The reasons behind the conformity are most likely to be participants going along with the experiment that they denied what there eyes were telling them and felt pressured by group norms, size, not to mention the fact that most young people and females are the most probable people to conform (Vaughan, G. &Hogg, M. et al., 2002). Asch’s experiment is so impressive because they were only temporary groups of people were informal and dismissal had no long-term consequence but even then the power of the group was still