Question

PART I: The Asch (1952) Experiment

Solomon Asch (1952) examined the effects of group pressure on conformity. He expected that individuals would tend to conform to group judgment in a perception task. Subjects were asked to perform a perception task indicating which of three vertical lines on one card was the same length as a single vertical line on another.

Each subject performed the task for several sets of lines in two conditions. In the first condition, Condition 1, the subject worked alone to make their selections. In the second condition, Condition 2, the subject was a member of a group of seven to nine male college students. All but one of the group members were confederates who acted in predetermined ways. In Condition 2 the other subjects, the confederates, announced their chosen line one by one and before the actual subject. For each trial in condition 2 the other subjects, the confederates, unanimously agreed in the choice of the same incorrect line. The question Asch sought to answer was whether subjects in groups where other “subjects” unanimously chose the same incorrect line would be more likely to conform to the majority and choose that same line rather than choosing the correct line.

When working alone (in Condition 1), subjects were able to correctly determine the matching line 92% of the time. In contrast, when working in the group, one-third (32%) of the subjects agreed with the majority and chose the incorrect line. This occurred even when the subjects appeared to know they were making the wrong choice. Asch concluded that there is a significant tendency for individuals to conform to the group judgment.

Question 1: Describe the Asch (1952) experiment using the following concepts from Chapter 2 that were illustrated in the summary. Be sure to define each of these 5 concepts and quote which part of the Asch (1952) summary illustrates each concept.

The five concepts required for your answer are control group, dependent variable, experimental group, hypothesis, and independent variable.

Answer 1

THE ASCH EXPERIMENT

CONTROL GROUP- It is that group of a scientific experimental study in which no manipulations are made by the researcher and the results are obtained under natural circumstances. The significance of the control group is that it is used as a standard.

According to this experiment, The group in which the subject worked alone to make their selection (under condition 1) represents the control group as the experiment was conducted under natural conditions and Asch didn't try to manipulate those conditions in any way.

DEPENDENT VARIABLE- When conducting a scientific experimental study, we consider two variables and try to study the 'cause and effect' relationship between them. Independent and dependent variable. Out of these, Dependent variable is the one which gets affected by the changes in the Independent variable and that is how we deduce the cause-effect relationship between the two, if there exists any.

According to this experiment, The dependent variable is 'Conformity' as it tends to get effected when changes are made to the independent variable i.e. carrying out of the experiment (either conducted with one subject at a time as in condition 1 or conducted with a group as in condition 2).

EXPERIMENTAL GROUP- It is that group of a scientific experimental study in which experimenter purposely manipulate the conditions to better understand the cause and effect relationship between the two sets of variable by nullifying all the extraneous cues. The significance of experimental group is that the results obtained from this group are compared with the results of the control group and then conclusions are made like whether there is a change seen in the results of these two groups and if yes then what does the change imply.

According to this experiment, The group in which the subjects worked in a group to make their selection (as in condition 2) was the experimental group as the experimenter purposely introduced confederates in that group and made them to answer incorrectly so that it affected how the actual subject perceived the line.

HYPOTHESIS- It is the pre conceived judgement that the experimenter makes regarding the study and then goes on testing his judgemenet and then concludes on the basis of the results whether Hypothesis was proved True or not.

In this experiment, Asch hypothesised that individuals would tend to conform to group judgment in a perception task later on concluded that the hypothesis was proved true on the basis of the results that he obtained from his experimental study.

INDEPENDENT VARIABLE- It is that variable used in an experimental study which if changed poses a direct effect on the dependent variable. Therefore, it is seen as a cause and its effect is studied on the dependent variable under various conditions and then conclusions are made on the basis of the results obtained.

According to this experiment, The number of subjects becomes the independent variable. Whether the experiment is performed by the subject alone or is performed in the group determines how the subject perceives the line and thus effects the Conformity level (which is the dependent variable of this study).