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 did Solomon Asch experiment on group conformity 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 Solomon Asch prove?
Asch (1956) found
that group size influenced whether subjects conformed
. The bigger the majority group (no of confederates), the more people conformed, but only up to a certain point. … Increasing the size of the majority beyond three did not increase the levels of conformity found.
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 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.
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
.
Who was Solomon Asch inspired by?
This study was directly inspired by
Asch
, who supervised Milgram's PhD at Harvard University. Asch also discovered the power of prestige suggestion. He found that people were more likely to conform and to believe in a message when the person delivering it had high prestige.
What are the 3 types of conformity?
There are three types of conformity:
compliance, identification and internalisation
.
What did the Solomon Asch experiment demonstrate quizlet?
Solomon Asch (1951) conducted an experiment
to investigate the extent to which social pressure from a majority group could affect a person to conform
. Asch used a lab experiment to study conformity, whereby 50 male students from Swarthmore College in the USA participated in a ‘vision test'.
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.
What is the main idea of Asch experiment?
Asch was interested in looking at how pressure from a group could lead people to conform, even when they knew that the rest of the group was wrong. The purpose of Asch's experiments?
To demonstrate the power of conformity in groups
.
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 the connection between Sherif's experiment?
Sherif (1935) Autokinetic Effect Experiment
Method: Sherif used
a lab experiment to study conformity
. He used the autokinetic effect – this is where a small spot of light (projected onto a screen) in a dark room will appear to move, even though it is still (i.e. it is a visual illusion).
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 did Solomon Asch contribution to psychology?
Contributions to Psychology
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.
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.
