How Did Solomon Asch Conformity

An example of this is: Solomon Asch’s study on conformity. Asch showed a group of people a line on a card (the target line) and then asked them aloud to identify which line (A, B, or C) matched the original. The answer was always obvious and the true participant always answered last or second last after the confederates had given their answer. The confederates were instructed to give the wrong answer 12 out of 18 trials (known as the critical trials). This meant that the participant had to choose between the clear, correct answer or conform to the majority and give the incorrect answer. 75% of participants conformed with the confederates at least once and gave at least one wrong answer.
3. In 1951, Solomon Asch conducted one of the most famous
Over all the critical trials, on average 32% of participants were incorrect as they conformed to the majority decision who were clearly stating the incorrect answer. This resulted in a mean (average) number of 3.84 errors out of 12 trials. In comparison, the control group only had a mean of 0.08 errors out of 12. 75% of all participants gave at least one incorrect answer, meaning that 25% of the true participants did not conform with the majority at all. In the control group, less than 1% of the participants gave at least one wrong answer. This showed to Asch that when there was less/no pressure to conform, less incorrect answers were given showing that we conform in order to fit in with those around us as we believe that they are better informed/more knowledgeable than we are. In the group with only one real participant (all others were confederates), the greatest number of wrong answers was 11 out of the 12 critical
Strengths of Asch’s Study:
• The participants and confederates did not know each other (they were strangers). This meant that the study was unambiguous and that the participants changed their answer from the clearly correct one to copy others and give an incorrect answer, as they believed the majority group was right, showing conformity.
• As Asch’s study on conformity was a laboratory experiment, it could be easily replicated.
• Asch has controlled all confounding variables so he could prove that any difference in the results of the study were due to the change in the independent variable (whether the true participant was in the group with several confederates or they were in the group on their own (the control group)).
Weaknesses of Asch’s Study:
• Asch carried out this study in 1950’s America just after World War Two (WW2). This harsh politicial situation meant that many people were afraid pf the consequences of speaking out and being seen as having a different belief. This meant that more people were more likely to conform with a group as they did not want to face the punishment/consequences that they perceived as coming with not