Other
(Psychology) Conformity - Conformity Notes
AQA Psychology A level - Social Influence notes. Provides detailed notes on Asch's research and procedures investigating rate of conformity. Exam preparation. Exam prep.
[Show more]
Connected book
Book Title:
Author(s):
- Edition:
- ISBN:
- Edition:
Seller
Follow
Content preview
Psychology NotesSocial Influence
Conformity
Conformity
Definitions
Conformity – “A change in a person ‘s behaviour or opinions as a result of real or
imagined pressure from a person or group of people”. (Aronson 2011)
Group Size – Asch increased the size of the group by adding more confederates,
therefore, increasing the size of the majority. As group size increased, so did level of
conformity, but only up to a certain point – conformity didn’t change when majority was
greater than three.
Unanimity – the extent of agreement among all members of a group; consensus. In
Asch’s studies, the majority was unanimous when the confederates all chose the same
comparison line. As a result of this, the naïve participants had conformed to the
greatest degree.
Task difficulty – Asch’s experiment involved increasing or varying the difficulty of the
line-judging task. He found that when the task was more difficult, conformity would
increase because they assume that the majority answer would most likely be the
correct answer.
Baseline study – A study that is used by newer researchers and research studies as a
comparison.
Asch’s Research:
Asch’s Baseline procedure
Solomon Asch (1951) created a procedure to assess the extent to which people will
conform to the opinion of others, including situations where the answer is
unambiguous.
Asch gathered 123 white, American men to take part in the experiment. They were each
put in different groups with other apparent participants – these other “participants”
were confederates who were knew about the study. Each participant was shown two
large white cards on each trial. One card illustrated a single line labelled “X” - this was
the standard line. On the other card, three lines labelled "A”, “B”, and “C” were used as
the comparison lines – they were different sizes, only one of these lines were the same
size as line “X”, on the other card. In this initial test, the distance between the
comparison lines were substantial and clear. On each trial, the participants were asked
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller isellnotesUK. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for £6.99. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.
Can Stuvia be trusted?
4.6 stars on Google & Trustpilot (+1000 reviews)
73216 documents were sold in the last 30 days
Founded in 2010, the go-to place to buy revision notes and other study material for 14 years now