Asch Conformity Experiment

Abstract: Asch (1951) conformity experiment was conducted to investigate the extent of social pressure from a majority group on an individual. Asch conducted this study because he disagreed with Sherif's (1935) conformity experiment, which had a small light in a dark room that did not move but he wanted to see how social pressure might affect a participant answer. Psychologist had earlier discovered that a small light in a dark room appeared to be moving, this was an illusion. Asch disagreed with the findings of this study because there was no right or wrong answer, therefore he conducted his own.
Hypothesis: Asch was incorrect in his hypothesis, he believed that people would not conform to something that they knew was wrong. We don’t think
He conducted the study with a line judgement test, except he told the naive participant that this was a psychological experiment so the participant had no idea what he was there for. “The experimenter then tells the college students that they will be comparing the lengths of lines. He shows two large white cards. On one is a single vertical black line-the standard whose length is to be matched. On the other card are three vertical lines of various lengths. The subjects are then told that they need to match the sample line to one of the three lines are card number two. One of the three is of the same length; the other two are substantially different, the difference ranging from three quarters of an inch to an inch and three quarters.” (Solomon 32) Asch conducts other studies as well after conducting this one to see how other circumstances might apply such as: Group size, lack of unanimity, presence of an ally, difficulty of the task, and what they might answer when they were in private.
Group Size: Asch (1956) found that group size influenced whether subjects conformed. They more of the subjects that gave the wrong answer, the more the blind subject would to, but only up to a certain point. With one other person (i.e. confederate) in the group conformity was 3%, with two others it increased to 13% and with three or more it was 32% (or 1/3). Optimum conformity effects (32%) were
A, B, C) were closer in length it was harder to judge the correct answer and conformity increased. When we are uncertain, it seems we look to others for confirmation. The more difficult the task the greater the conformity. (Mcleod)
Private: When participants could answer in private (so the rest of the group does not know their response) conformity decreases. This is because when we can keep our answers in private, we have less of a fear for being judged that our answer might be wrong.
Controversy: “Asch’s (1951) study raises ethical issues when you look at the APA standard for informed consent. This is because the participants were told that the experiment was about visual perception rather than majority influence. The participants were deceived about the aim of the research and were misled into believing that the confederates were other participants. They were put under stress during the procedure, and afterwards those who conformed may have felt foolish and angry because of the deception. This may have caused them psychological harm”(Sammons)
Historical Significance: Solomon Asch not only paved the way for other researchers interested in the topic of conformity but he showed that as humans we do