Asch Social Conformity Experiment

Asch conducted an experiment in (1951) about social conformity. In definition, social conformity is defined to be a type of social influence in which an individual may change their behaviour or belief in order to fit in with a group. These changes are influenced by the physical presence of others or the group/peer pressure pressuring an individual to be the “same”.

The aim of Asch’s experiment is to investigate whether social pressure could affect a person’s behaviour or belief just to fit in the group. Or in other words, whether peer pressure could affect a person to conform. On Tuesday, August 4th 2015, the Psychology Higher Level students of ACS International had the opportunity to conduct the experiment. However, we had variations to Asch’s

In the first and second trial, six students and a teacher participated in the experiment. The six students knew exactly about the purpose of the test and were asked to answer two right answers correctly and answer the remaining seven answers incorrectly. However, a teacher which was the subject of the experiment did not know that it was a psychology test about social conformity.

The test was introduced as a Visual Perception Test in which the seven participants should state aloud which line (A, B or C) was most likely as the original/target line. The nine questions were projected in the screen in a form of slides presentation in which is prepared beforehand. The participants answer their answers from one end to the other.

Fig 1(on the left): An example of the diagram of lines used in the experiment. Line X indicates the original/target lines. Participant are expected to state aloud whether line A, B or C is the duplication of line X. The lines are always made obvious. In this case, line B is the expected

The teachers commented that the difference in answers were due to the location of the seats. They also feel that their eyesight is not as accurate in which they tend to doubt their answers. In spite the reason, they did not believe the incorrect answers of the experiment that were given. However, in the case of the fourth trial which the subject was a teenage student, the participant conform readily. She incorrectly answered the questions six times following the incorrect answers from other participant. In addition to that, we manage to make changes in the last trial so that the experiment will be more effective. All the participants were asked to leave the room and only enter when the subject comes. All the participants were also asked to mention their names before the “test”. These conditions were not done in the previous three experiments. This could also affect the result