Asch Conformity Experiments

Michael O’Connor - Abnormal Psychology (Psy266)

Solomon Asch• “The tendency to conformity in our society

is so strong that reasonably intelligent and well-meaning young people are willing to call white black. This is a matter of concern. It raises questions about our ways of educations and about the values that guide our conduct.”

Solomon Asch• Born in Warsaw, Poland

• Born September 14th, 1907

• Columbia University PhD

• 19 years at Swarthmore College

• Worked with Wolgang Kohler

• Mentor - Max Wertheimer

Solomon Asch• Studied more than just

conformity.• Prestige Suggestion and

associations.

• Impression Formation and the important inferences drawn from these results.

• Overall work in social psychology his entire career.

Solomon Asch• Conformity Experiments

were his best known or famous experiments.

• Many are familiar with the lines used in the study.

• Results inspired many experiments to come, including the Stanley Milgram.

• Examined social construction of reality and the affect on those around it.

Asch Conformity Experiment

• Series of experiments done by Solomon Asch in the 1950’s.

• Purpose was to find out how a person’s opinions are influenced by the group.

• Important result, ignoring reality.

• The next short clip will illuminate much about the experiment, even though I believe most are familiar with it.

Asch Conformity Study

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyDDyT1lDhA

Asch Conformity Experiment

• Purpose - To show the influence of conformity in a group situation. Social pressure in other words.

• Solomon Asch intended to see how a group would conform with one participant and several actors to curve the results.

Asch Experiment - Procedure

• 50 male students participated in a vision test (lines on last slide).

• One “naive” student and seven “confederates” were placed in a room. The “confederates” know in advance what their answer is going to be.

• The real participant did not know anything in relation to the confederates or the responses.

• Each person stated aloud the target matching line, the answer always being obvious. The goal was not to try to trick them.

Asch Conformity Experiments - Procedure

• The real participant sat at the end, like in the video, and gave their answer at the end.

• There were a total of 18 different trials and the confederates gave the wrong answer on 12 trials.

• Asch was curious to see if the unknowing participant would conform the majority view, regardless of their own.

• There was also a control condition where there were no confederates, just one person being administered the test.

• Theoretical approach - social/behavioral (as really emphasized by Asch and his methods)

Results• The number of times each

person conformed to the view of the control subjects was recorded.

• It turned out to be about 1/3 or 32%.

• Clearly indicates that the participant went along with the incorrect majority in trials.

• Over 12 trials, about 75% conformed at least once, and 25% never conformed.

• Note: In the control group with no pressure from confederates, less than 1% gave the wrong answer.

Conclusion• Why did people give the wrong answer based on

their peers?• Many thought they would be “ridiculed” for not

conforming with the group, or thought to be odd.• Only several believed the groups answers to be

correct.• This indicates that people conform to a group for

several reasons. Because they want to fit in or (less often) because they believe the group is better informed than they are. (“Normative influence v. informational influence”)

Evaluation• Very interesting that people conform, regardless of the

correct answer.• Can this be generalized to different groups?• One issue. All participants belonged to the same age group• Because of the specifics (ie line task), “the validity and

results cannot be generalized to other real life situations of conformity.”

• Significant at the time due to the McCartyism era that was occurring. The communist scare and all.

• Ethical issue - participant not protected from psychological stress within the group. Too much emotion involved.

Why was it important?• One of the most famous and influential experiments in

psychology.• Inspired many different studies later on that supplied a plethora

of research that has provided more in-depth information on conformity. (Stanford Prison study and Milgram Experiments)

• Reiteration. It inspired a generation of social psychologists and experiments, it was and is a very big deal and remains a standard.

• Social anxiety hadn’t been studied in-depth at that point in time.

• The social construction of reality• The most value was in pioneering a new field of psychology

that inspired later generations work. Without him, there would be even less research available.

NPR - Milgram Experiments

• This is extra, but I found it interesting.• http://www.npr.org/2013/08/28/209559002/

taking-a-closer-look-at-milgrams-shocking-obedience-study

Works Cited"About Solomon Asch." About Solomon Asch. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2016. <http://www.brynmawr.edu/aschcenter/about/solomon.htm>.

"Asch Experiment." Asch Experiment. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2016. <http://www.simplypsychology.org/asch-conformity.html>.

"The Asch Experiments: Why Do We Feel the Need to Conform?" About.com Health. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2016. <http://psychology.about.com/od/classicpsychologystudies/p/conformity.htm>.

"Taking A Closer Look At Milgram's Shocking Obedience Study." NPR. NPR, n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2016. <http://www.npr.org/2013/08/28/209559002/taking-a-closer-look-at-milgrams-shocking-obedience-study>.