Asch's Line Study
- Aim
To study the influence of normative conformity
- Procedure
123 Participants (male Americans) were told it was a vision test when actually it was testing conformity
1 participant and 6-8 confederates. Each participant took part in 18 trials.
Standard line and comparison lines - the correct answer was always clear.
Confederates chose the same wrong answer 12 out of 18 trias.
- Findings
The naive participant gave the wrong answer 36% of the time. 25% of participats didn't conformed at least once when the correct answer was very clear.
When interviewed after the study, participants said that they conformed to avoid rejection from the rest of the group.
- Conclusion
Participants were conforming to be liked as the answer was obvious.
Asch's Variation
Group Size
- Procedure
3 confederates used
- Findings
Conformity rose to 31%. More than 7 made little difference.
- Conclusion
Small and large majorities made little difference in conformity rates
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Unanimity
- Procedure
Another confederate went against all the other answers
- Findings
This confederate made conformity decrease. Conformity was 25% rather than 36%
- Conclusion
This confederate allowed the participant to think independantly. Which showed that an influence of a majority being unanimous is key to conformity.
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Task Difficulty
- Procedure
The answer was harder to judge - less clear
- Findings
Conformity levels increased. Hoe found that it changed to informational conformity. This increased conformity as the task was harder.
- Conclusion
This is because people are more likely to look to other people for guidance when they are unsure of the correct answer
Evaluation of Asch's Line Study
Limitation – Gender bias
The participants were all American males. Women were not tested in the research so the research is limited in it’s applicability to explain why all people conform. This is a limitation for Asch’s research because women have been found in general to be more conformist due to placing greater emphasis on being socially desirable. As women haven’t been used in this research the findings cannot be used to understand all conforming behaviours because gender differences haven’t been considered due to the male only sample. Therefore, this means that Asch’s research is gender bias as the research has only considered how males conform.
Limitation – Culture bias
Only tested in Western/individualist culture. Only Americans were tested, so only individualist cultures have been considered in this research. Individualist cultures value individual success whereas collectivist cultures value group success. So collectivist cultures, like China, would be more likely to conform because going along with a majority is the norm. This is a limitation for Asch’s research because it can only be used to understand how/why western culture conform. Therefore, this means that Asch’s research is culturally bias, and cannot be used to understand how/why collectivist cultures conform.