What\'s Next? In Asch\'s (1951) study, a group of students gathered in a room to

Question

What's Next? In Asch's (1951) study, a group of students gathered in a room to take part in what was described as a study of visual discrimination. They were shown a single line and then three comparison lines. Their task was to say which of the three comparison lines matched the standard. Here's an example: A B C Exki r 1 Exshilir 2 There were seven people in the group in one experiment, but there was only one real subject The other six were confederates of the experimenter, or assistants. The situation was arranged so that the real subject always responded with his or her answer next to last, after five other "subjects" had already given their judgments. Everyone responded out loud, so that the rest of the group knew each person's response There were 18 trials; in each case, one comparison line was equal to the standard. The confederates were instructed to give the correct answer on 6 of the trials but a consistently wrong answer on 12 trials. The question of interest was whether the real subject in the procedure would conform to the group judgment and go against his or her own perceptions. Most did conform on 1 or more of the 12 trials. A control group was also used, in which the confederates did not make any errors; under these conditions, only 5 percent of the real subjects made an error Use the back of the page to answer the questions below 1. Describe three ways the study could be altered to provide more information about conformity 2. What would your hypothesis be for each of your proposed studies? In other words, how do you think the study would turn out?

Explanation / Answer

1. a)No obvious answer: To check the conformity the experimenter should make sure that the answer to the question is an obvious one. For instance, in the example, it is very evident that 'A' is the answer. The subject should be in uncertain about his/her answer so that there is an equal chance of conforming and not conforming to the group.

b) The number of confederates: The study uses only 5 confederates to answer before the subject. Five is not a big number, therefore, conformity can be better understood if the confederates are increased.

c) Questions related to morals: When it comes to moral values of a person, most of the people tend to validate their beliefs with that of that society. Therefore, questions relating to moral values will give better understanding of conformity of the subject.

2) The proposed hypothesis for the three scenarios are as follows

a). The subject will conform to the group when asked she/he is asked unfamiliar answers.

b) The subject will conform to the group with the increase in the number of confederates.

c) The subject will conform more to the group when asked about moral values.

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