Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsWhat Is Conformity?MethodsResultsFactors That Influence ConformityCriticism
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
What Is Conformity?
Methods
Results
Factors That Influence Conformity
Criticism
Close
At a GlanceThe Asch conformity experiments are among the most famous in psychology’s history and have inspired a wealth of additional research on conformity and group behavior. This research has provided important insight into how, why, and when people conform and the effects of social pressure on behavior.
At a Glance
The Asch conformity experiments are among the most famous in psychology’s history and have inspired a wealth of additional research on conformity and group behavior. This research has provided important insight into how, why, and when people conform and the effects of social pressure on behavior.
Do you think of yourself as a conformist or a non-conformist? Most people believe that they are non-conformist enough to stand up to a group when they know they are right, but conformist enough to blend in with the rest of their peers.
Research suggests that people are often much more prone to conform than they believe they might be.
Imagine yourself in this situation: You’ve signed up to participate in apsychology experimentin which you are asked to complete a vision test.
Seated in a room with the other participants, you are shown a line segment and then asked to choose the matching line from a group of three segments of different lengths.
The experimenter asks each participant individually to select the matching line segment. On some occasions, everyone in the group chooses the correct line, but occasionally, the other participants unanimously declare that a different line is actually the correct match.
So what do you do when the experimenter asks you which line is the right match? Do you go with your initial response, or do you choose to conform to the rest of the group?
Conformity in Psychology
In psychological terms, conformity refers to an individual’s tendency to follow the unspoken rules or behaviors of the social group to which they belong. Researchers have long been been curious about the degree to which people follow or rebel against social norms.
Asch was interested in looking at how pressure from a group could lead people to conform, even when they knew that the rest of the group was wrong. The purpose of the Asch conformity experiment was to demonstrate the power of conformity in groups.
Methodology of Asch’s Experiments
Asch’s experimentsinvolved having people who were in on the experiment pretend to be regular participants alongside those who were actual, unaware subjects of the study. Those that were in on the experiment would behave in certain ways to see if their actions had an influence on the actual experimental participants.
In each experiment, a naive student participant was placed in a room with several other confederates who were in on the experiment. The subjects were told that they were taking part in a “vision test.” All told, a total of 50 students were part of Asch’s experimental condition.
The confederates were all told what their responses would be when the line task was presented. The naive participant, however, had no inkling that the other students were not real participants. After the line task was presented, each student verbally announced which line (either 1, 2, or 3) matched the target line.
Critical Trials
There were 18 different trials in theexperimental condition, and the confederates gave incorrect responses in 12 of them, which Asch referred to as the “critical trials.” The purpose of these critical trials was to see if the participants would change their answer in order to conform to how the others in the group responded.
Control Condition
The study also included 37 participants in acontrol condition. In order to ensure that the average person could accurately gauge the length of the lines, the control group was asked to individually write down the correct match. According to these results, participants were very accurate in their line judgments, choosing the correct answer 99% of the time.
Results of the Asch Conformity Experiments
Nearly 75% of the participants in the conformity experiments went along with the rest of the group at least one time.
After combining the trials, the results indicated that participants conformed to the incorrect group answer approximately one-third of the time.
The experiments also looked at the effect that the number of people present in the group had on conformity. When just one confederate was present, there was virtually no impact on participants' answers. The presence of two confederates had only a tiny effect. The level of conformity seen with three or more confederates was far more significant.
Asch also found that having one of the confederates give the correct answer while the rest of the confederates gave the incorrect answer dramatically lowered conformity. In this situation, just 5% to 10% of the participants conformed to the rest of the group (depending on how often the ally answered correctly). Later studies have also supported this finding, suggesting that having social support is an important tool in combating conformity.
At the conclusion of the Asch experiments, participants were asked why they had gone along with the rest of the group. In most cases, the students stated that while they knew the rest of the group was wrong, they did not want to risk facing ridicule. A few of the participants suggested that they actually believed the other members of the group were correct in their answers.
Given the level of conformity seen in Asch’s experiments, conformity can be even stronger in real-life situations where stimuli are more ambiguous or more difficult to judge.
Asch went on to conduct further experiments in order to determine which factors influenced how and when people conform. He found that:
Criticisms of the Asch Conformity Experiments
One of the major criticisms of Asch’sconformity experimentscenters on the reasons why participants choose to conform. 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.
Manysocial psychologyexperts 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.
How Conformity Influences Behavior
2 SourcesVerywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Asch SE.Studies of independence and conformity: I. A minority of one against a unanimous majority.Psychological Monographs: General and Applied. 1956;70(9):1-70. doi:10.1037/h0093718Morgan TJH, Laland KN, Harris PL.The development of adaptive conformity in young children: effects of uncertainty and consensus.Dev Sci.2015;18(4):511-524. doi:10.1111/desc.12231Additional ReadingAsch SE.Effects of group pressure upon the modification and distortion of judgments. In: Guetzkow H, ed.Groups, Leadership and Men; Research in Human Relations.Carnegie Press. 1951:177–190.Britt MA.Psych Experiments: From Pavlov’s Dogs to Rorschach’s Inkblots. Adams Media.Myers DG.Exploring Psychology(9th ed.). Worth Publishers.
2 Sources
Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Asch SE.Studies of independence and conformity: I. A minority of one against a unanimous majority.Psychological Monographs: General and Applied. 1956;70(9):1-70. doi:10.1037/h0093718Morgan TJH, Laland KN, Harris PL.The development of adaptive conformity in young children: effects of uncertainty and consensus.Dev Sci.2015;18(4):511-524. doi:10.1111/desc.12231Additional ReadingAsch SE.Effects of group pressure upon the modification and distortion of judgments. In: Guetzkow H, ed.Groups, Leadership and Men; Research in Human Relations.Carnegie Press. 1951:177–190.Britt MA.Psych Experiments: From Pavlov’s Dogs to Rorschach’s Inkblots. Adams Media.Myers DG.Exploring Psychology(9th ed.). Worth Publishers.
Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Asch SE.Studies of independence and conformity: I. A minority of one against a unanimous majority.Psychological Monographs: General and Applied. 1956;70(9):1-70. doi:10.1037/h0093718Morgan TJH, Laland KN, Harris PL.The development of adaptive conformity in young children: effects of uncertainty and consensus.Dev Sci.2015;18(4):511-524. doi:10.1111/desc.12231
Asch SE.Studies of independence and conformity: I. A minority of one against a unanimous majority.Psychological Monographs: General and Applied. 1956;70(9):1-70. doi:10.1037/h0093718
Morgan TJH, Laland KN, Harris PL.The development of adaptive conformity in young children: effects of uncertainty and consensus.Dev Sci.2015;18(4):511-524. doi:10.1111/desc.12231
Asch SE.Effects of group pressure upon the modification and distortion of judgments. In: Guetzkow H, ed.Groups, Leadership and Men; Research in Human Relations.Carnegie Press. 1951:177–190.Britt MA.Psych Experiments: From Pavlov’s Dogs to Rorschach’s Inkblots. Adams Media.Myers DG.Exploring Psychology(9th ed.). Worth Publishers.
Asch SE.Effects of group pressure upon the modification and distortion of judgments. In: Guetzkow H, ed.Groups, Leadership and Men; Research in Human Relations.Carnegie Press. 1951:177–190.
Britt MA.Psych Experiments: From Pavlov’s Dogs to Rorschach’s Inkblots. Adams Media.
Myers DG.Exploring Psychology(9th ed.). Worth Publishers.
Meet Our Review Board
Share Feedback
Was this page helpful?Thanks for your feedback!What is your feedback?HelpfulReport an ErrorOtherSubmit
Was this page helpful?
Thanks for your feedback!
What is your feedback?HelpfulReport an ErrorOtherSubmit
What is your feedback?
