The experiments revealed the
degree to which a person's own opinions are influenced by those of groups
. Asch found that people were willing to ignore reality and give an incorrect answer in order to conform to the rest of the group.
What is Asch known for?
Solomon Asch is considered a
pioneer of social psychology and Gestalt psychology
. 5 His conformity experiments demonstrated the power of social influence and still serve as a source of inspiration for social psychology researchers today.
What did Asch study find?
The experiments revealed the
degree to which a person's own opinions are influenced by those of groups
. Asch found that people were willing to ignore reality and give an incorrect answer in order to conform to the rest of the group.
What were the findings of the Asch studies 1955 )?
Asch (1955) found that
76% of participants conformed to group pressure at least once by indicating the incorrect line
. Conformity is the change in a person's behavior to go along with the group, even if he does not agree with the group.
The Asch experiment showed
that people's individual perceptions can be influenced by the perceptions of a larger group
. … Second-person point of view allows the author to explain his own opinions of the experiment. Second-person point of view allows the reader to feel close with the author.
What was Asch's hypothesis?
Asch hypothesized that
when confederates (fake participants) uniformly gave a particular response in a group setting, the lone true participant would feel pressure to conform to the group consensus
.
What did Solomon Asch's famous line experiment demonstrate?
Solomon Asch's experiment on group conformity demonstrated
that people will conform with a group
, even if they feel or know that the group is wrong.
What did researchers in the bridge experiment conclude?
Researchers in the bridge experiment concluded that:
People can misattribute what caused their emotions
.
What is the difference between conformity and obedience?
How Obedience Differs From Conformity. Obedience involves an order; conformity involves a request. Obedience is obeying someone with a higher status;
conformity is going along with people of equal status
.
Why is Asch's study ethnocentric?
The sample is limited as it was all male (androcentric), American (ethnocentric). This means
it lacks population validity
so that means caution should be taken when generalising the findings to the whole population.
What is the main difference between Asch and Sherif's conformity studies?
Another difference between the two experiments was that
Asch had control over his participants and Sherif had none
. The effect of this was that the results could show conformity clearly as it was evidently definable conformity was occurring whereas Sherif's results were in ranges that followed a norm.
Is Asch experiment valid?
Evaluation of Asch
Finally, Asch's
research is ethically questionable
. He broke several ethical guidelines, including: deception and protection from harm. Asch deliberately deceived his participants, saying that they were taking part in a vision test and not an experiment on conformity.
What was Asch trying to find out by conducting this experiment?
Solomon Asch conducted an experiment to
investigate the extent to which social pressure from a majority group could influence a person to conform
.
What is Asch's Configural model?
Asch proposed two models to account for these results: The configural model and the algebraic model (see Figure 1.1). The configural model
hypothesizes that people form a unified overall impression of other people
; the unifying forces shape individual elements to bring them in line with the overall impression.
What are two types of conformity?
Normative conformity
involves changing one's behavior in order to fit in with the group. Informational conformity happens when a person lacks the knowledge and looks to the group for information and direction. Compliance involves changing one's behavior while still internally disagreeing with the group.
