Evaluate+research+on+conformity+to+group+norms.


 * **//Conformity//** || The tendency to adjust one’s thoughts, feelings, or behavior in ways that are in agreement with those of a particular individual or group, or with accepted standards about how a person should behave in specific situations (social norms). ||
 * **//Confederate//** || Someone who is part of a conspiracy. ||
 * **//Asch paradigm//** || The Asch conformity experiments were a series of studies published in the 1950s that demonstrated the power of conformity in groups. These are also known as the "Asch Paradigm" . ||
 * **//Group think//** || Group think is characterized by group members having a unanimous opinion on an issue, and they do not seek out alternative or dissenting opinions. ||

** "A society or culture passes down its values and behaviors to its members is through an indirect form of social influence called conformity." **
= Asch (1951) =
 * Aim: **what extent a person would conform to an incorrect answer on a test if the response from the other members of the group was unanimous?


 * Goal**: to see if the participant would conform to the wrong answers given by the confederates, even when it was very clear that this response was incorrect.

a. The participant entered a room where there were six people and the researcher. b. The confederates were dressed like businessmen, in suits and ties. (The confederates had been instructed to answer correctly for some of the trials, but to answer incorrectly for the majority of the trials.) c. After the participant took his seat, the group was told that they were going to take part in “a psychological experiment on visual judgment”. d. They were then shown cards. e. The participant was asked to select the line from the second card that matched the length of the line on the first card. f. There were 18 trials in total. In some of the trials, the difference in the lines was hardly noticeable, while in others, it was very clear.
 * Procedures:**



a. About 75 percent of the participant agreed with the confederates’ incorrect response at least once during the trials. b. Asch found that a mean of 32 percent of the participant agreed with incorrect response in half or more of the trials. c. However, 24 percent of the participants did not conform to any of the incorrect responses given by the confederates.
 * Findings:**

1. __Question of artificiality and ecological validity__ "Do these experiments accurately predict how people will react in real-life situations?" In the original experiment, both the task and the use of strangers make this situation somewhat atypical.
 * Evaluation:**

2. __Concern for demand characteristics__ Those participants who conformed said that they knew their responses were incorrect, but they went along with the group because they did not want to ruin the experimenter’s results, and they did not want to appear to be against the group.

3. __The need to belong__ Some argue that this could also be explained in terms of “the need to belong” – the need to be part of the group is stronger than the desire to give the correct answer.

= Asch paradigm =
 * Factors that influence the likelihood to conform to the group


 * ** //Group size// **

|| ◈ With only one confederate – 3 percent of the participants conformed; With two confederates – 14 percent; With three confederates – 32 percent. (Asch 1995)

◈ Larger groups did not increase the rate of conformity.

◈ In some cases, very large groups even decreased the level of conformity. ||
 * //** Unanimity **//

|| ◈ Conformity was most likely when all the confederates agreed (Asch 1956). If one of the confederates disagreed, even if it was also an incorrect answer, the participant was significantly less likely to conform. ||
 * **// Confidence //**

|| ◈ When individuals feel that they are more competent to make decisions with regard to a field of expertise, they are less likely to conform.

◈ Perrin and Spencer (1988) found that when they replicated Asch’s study with engineers and medical students, conformity rates were almost nil. ||
 * //** Self-esteem **//

|| ◈ Stang (1973) found that participants with high self-esteem were less likely to conform to incorrect responses. ||

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 * Evaluate research on conformity to group norms.**

In psychological terms, conformity refers to an individual's tendency to follow the unspoken rules or behaviors of the social group to which he or she belongs. Researchers have long been interested in the degree to which people follow or rebel against social norms. During the 1950s, psychologist Solomon Asch conducted a series of experiments designed to demonstrate the power of conformity in groups. In Asch's experiments, students were told that they were participating in a 'vision test.' The other participants in the experiment were all confederates, or assistants of the experimenter. At first, the confederates answered the questions correctly, but eventually began providing incorrect answers. As a result, Nearly 75 percent of the participants in the conformity experiments went along with the rest of the group at least one time. However, according to some critics, individuals may have actually been motivated to avoid conflict, rather than an actual desire to conform to the rest of the group. Another criticism is that the results of the experiment in the lab may not generalize to real-world situations. Nevertheless, many social psychology experts believe that while real-world situations may not be as clear cut as they are in the lab, the actual social pressure to conform is probably much greater, which can dramatically increase conformist behaviors.