Conformity: Asch's Research

Procedure

• Confederates deliberately gave wrong answers to see if participant would conform.

Findings

• Naive participants conformed on 36.8% of trials.
• 25% never conformed.

Variations

• Conformity increased up to group size of four.
• Dissenter reduced conformity.
• Conformity increased when task was harder.

A child of its time

• Perrin and Spencer found less conformity in 1980 than 1950s.

Artificial situation and task

• Demand characteristics meant participants just played along with trivial task.

Limited application of findings

• Asch's research only conducted on American men.

Evaluation extra

• Findings only apply to certain situations
• Ethical issues