User:Yvasquez/sandbox: Difference between revisions
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[[Image:Asch experiment.png|thumb|270px|One of the pairs of cards used in the experiment. The card on the left has the reference line and the one on the right shows the three comparison lines.]] |
[[Image:Asch experiment.png|thumb|270px|One of the pairs of cards used in the experiment. The card on the left has the reference line and the one on the right shows the three comparison lines.]] |
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In 1951, [[Solomon Asch]] of [[Swarthmore College]] conducted his first conformity laboratory experiment, laying the foundation for his remaining studies. Male college students participated in a simple “perceptual” task. In reality, all but one of the participants were "confederates" (i.e., actors), and the true focus of study was about how the remaining student (i.e., real participants), would react to the confederates' behavior. |
In 1951, [[Solomon Asch]] of [[Swarthmore College]] conducted his first conformity laboratory experiment, laying the foundation for his remaining conformity studies. Male college students participated in a simple “perceptual” task. In reality, all but one of the participants were "confederates" (i.e., actors), and the true focus of study was about how the remaining student (i.e., real participants), would react to the confederates' behavior. |
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Each participant was placed in a room with 7 "confederates". Confederates knew the true aim of the experiment, but were introduced as participants to the "real" participant. Participants were shown a card with a line on it, followed by a card with 3 lines on it (lines labeled A, B and C, respectively). Participants were then asked to say aloud, which line (i.e., A, B or C) matched the line on the first card in length. Each line question was called a "trial". Prior to the experiment, all confederates were given specific instructions on how they should respond to each trial. Specifically, they were told to unanimously give the correct response or unanimously give the incorrect response. The real participant was always the last to respond. For the first two trials, the participant would feel at ease in the experiment, as he and the confederates gave the obvious, correct answer. On the third trial, the confederates would all give the same wrong answer, placing the participant in a dilemma. There were 18 trials in total and the confederates answered incorrectly for 12 of them. These 12 were known as the "critical trials". The aim was to see whether the real participant would change his answer and respond in the same way as the confederates, despite it being the wrong answer. Once the experiment was completed, all "real" real participants were individually interviewed. At the end of the interview, all participants were debriefed about the true purpose of the study. |
Each participant was placed in a room with 7 "confederates". Confederates knew the true aim of the experiment, but were introduced as participants to the "real" participant. Participants were shown a card with a line on it, followed by a card with 3 lines on it (lines labeled A, B and C, respectively). Participants were then asked to say aloud, which line (i.e., A, B or C) matched the line on the first card in length. Each line question was called a "trial". Prior to the experiment, all confederates were given specific instructions on how they should respond to each trial. Specifically, they were told to unanimously give the correct response or unanimously give the incorrect response. The real participant was always the last to respond. For the first two trials, the participant would feel at ease in the experiment, as he and the confederates gave the obvious, correct answer. On the third trial, the confederates would all give the same wrong answer, placing the participant in a dilemma. There were 18 trials in total and the confederates answered incorrectly for 12 of them. These 12 were known as the "critical trials". The aim was to see whether the real participant would change his answer and respond in the same way as the confederates, despite it being the wrong answer. Once the experiment was completed, all "real" real participants were individually interviewed. At the end of the interview, all participants were debriefed about the true purpose of the study. |
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Revision as of 23:30, 15 November 2012
During the 1950s, Solomon Asch conducted and published a series of laboratory experiments that demonstrated a surprising degree of conformity to a majority opinion.[1][2][3][4][5] Together, these experiments are known as the Asch conformity experiments or the Asch Paradigm. Subsequent to the release of these experiments, several scientists attempted to replicate them through various lens. In the present day, experiments of this nature continue to be conducted.
Methodology
In 1951, Solomon Asch of Swarthmore College conducted his first conformity laboratory experiment, laying the foundation for his remaining conformity studies. Male college students participated in a simple “perceptual” task. In reality, all but one of the participants were "confederates" (i.e., actors), and the true focus of study was about how the remaining student (i.e., real participants), would react to the confederates' behavior.
Each participant was placed in a room with 7 "confederates". Confederates knew the true aim of the experiment, but were introduced as participants to the "real" participant. Participants were shown a card with a line on it, followed by a card with 3 lines on it (lines labeled A, B and C, respectively). Participants were then asked to say aloud, which line (i.e., A, B or C) matched the line on the first card in length. Each line question was called a "trial". Prior to the experiment, all confederates were given specific instructions on how they should respond to each trial. Specifically, they were told to unanimously give the correct response or unanimously give the incorrect response. The real participant was always the last to respond. For the first two trials, the participant would feel at ease in the experiment, as he and the confederates gave the obvious, correct answer. On the third trial, the confederates would all give the same wrong answer, placing the participant in a dilemma. There were 18 trials in total and the confederates answered incorrectly for 12 of them. These 12 were known as the "critical trials". The aim was to see whether the real participant would change his answer and respond in the same way as the confederates, despite it being the wrong answer. Once the experiment was completed, all "real" real participants were individually interviewed. At the end of the interview, all participants were debriefed about the true purpose of the study.
Solomon Asch's experiment also had a control condition where there were no confederates, only a "real participant". This mean that one participant answered to all 18 trials alone with the experimenter in the room. In total, there were 50 "real" participants in the experimental condition and 37 participants in the control condition.
Variations in Methodology
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Results
Primary
In a control group, with no pressure to conform to an erroneous view, only one participant out of 35 ever gave an incorrect answer. Solomon Asch hypothesized that the majority of participants would not conform to something obviously wrong; however, when surrounded by individuals all voicing an incorrect answer, participants provided incorrect responses on a high proportion of the questions (32%). Seventy-five percent of the participants gave an incorrect answer to at least one question.
Variations of the basic paradigm tested how many cohorts were necessary to induce conformity, examining the influence of just one cohort and as many as fifteen. Results indicate that one cohort has virtually no influence and two cohorts have only a small influence. When three or more cohorts are present, the tendency to conform increases only modestly. The maximum effect occurs with four cohorts. Adding additional cohorts does not produce a stronger effect.
The unanimity of the confederates has also been varied. When the confederates are not unanimous in their judgment, even if only one confederate voices a different opinion, participants are much more likely to resist the urge to conform (only 5–10% conform) than when the confederates all agree. This finding illuminates the power that even a small dissenting minority can have. Interestingly, this finding holds whether or not the dissenting confederate gives the correct answer. As long as the dissenting confederate gives an answer that is different from the majority, participants are more likely to give the correct answer. Men show around half the effect of women (tested in same-sex groups); and conformity is higher among members of an ingroup.[6]
Variations
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Interpretations
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Influences
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Replications by the Research Community
Different stimuli
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Culture
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Status
Gender
Age
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Overtime
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See also
- No soap radio, a joke or prank that preys upon a subject's likeliness to conform to other people's reactions to a stimulus. The basic setup is very similar to an Asch conformity experiment.
- Three men make a tiger, a Chinese proverb which refers to an individual's tendency to accept absurd information as long as it is repeated by enough people.
- Bandwagon effect
References
- ^ Asch, S.E. (1951). Effects of group pressure on the modification and distortion of judgements. In H. Guetzkow (Ed.), Groups, leadership and men(pp. 177–190). Pittsburgh:PA Carnegie Press.
- ^ Asch, S.E. (1952a). Effects of group pressure on the modification and distortion of judgements. In G.E. Swanson, T.M. Newcomb & E.L. Hartley (Eds.), Readings in social psychology(2nd ed., pp. 2–11). New York:NY Holt.
- ^ Asch, S.E. (1952b). "Social psychology". Englewood Cliffs:NJ Prentice Hall.
- ^ Asch, S.E. (1955). Opinions and social pressure. Scientific American, 193, 35–35.
- ^ Asch, S.E. (1956). Studies of independence and conformity. A minority of one against a unanimous majority. Psychological Monographs, 70(9), 1–70.
- ^ Bond, R. and Smith, P. B. (1996.) Culture and Conformity: A Meta-Analysis of Studies Using Asch's ( 1952b, 1956) Line Judgment Task. Psychological Bulletin, 119, 111-137.
External links
- Science Aid: Asch experiment A look at majority influence and Asch's experiment for high school level
- Changingminds: Normative social influence
- Age of the sage summary of one Asch experiment
- BBC Radio: Mind changers: Solomon Asch
- Video