Conformity is a form of social influence that occurs when a person’s behaviour or thinking changes as a result of group pressure — pressure which may be real or imagined .

What is meant by compliance in relation to conformity?

Compliance is when people go along with and appear to agree with the majority even when they privately disagree with the group’s ideas or opinions.

True or False? Conformity is the same as obedience.

False. Conformity involves going along with and being guided by the group, whereas obedience involves carrying out the instructions or orders of an individual authority figure.

Give two reasons why conformity might occur, according to the note.

People conform because they wish to be accepted by the majority of the group, or because they feel the group are better informed than they are themselves.

Give an example of conformity involving humour.

Laughing along to a joke you don’t actually find funny is an example of conformity.

Asch’s sample was made up of male students from the USA.

Asch’s sample was made up of 123 male students from the USA.

Define a critical trial in Asch’s study.

A critical trial was one of 12 trials (out of 18 total) in which the confederates all gave the same wrong answer to the line-judging question.

What task were participants asked to do in Asch’s line study?

Participants had to say which of the three comparison lines on the right of a card was the same length as the line shown on the left.

Each group in Asch’s study completed trials in total.

Each group in Asch’s study completed 18 trials in total.

How many confederates sat with each participant in Asch’s study?

Each participant sat with 6–8 confederates (other male students working for Asch).

True or False? In Asch’s study, participants gave the wrong answer on 36.8% of the critical trials.

True. Participants gave the wrong answer on 36.8% of the critical trials, and 75% of participants conformed at least once.

What did Asch conclude about conformity in an unambiguous situation?

Asch concluded that people will conform to the majority even when the situation is unambiguous, as it was clear what the correct answer was yet some participants still gave the wrong answer.

In Asch’s study, % of participants did not conform on any of the trials, showing resistance to social influence.

In Asch’s study, 25% of participants did not conform on any of the trials, showing resistance to social influence.

Why might Asch’s study lack validity ?

The task was low status and low jeopardy — it didn’t matter whether a participant conformed or not, making it an artificial situation that lowers the validity of the findings.

Give one strength of Asch’s study.

Asch used a replicable procedure , meaning the study could be repeated many times to check for reliability .

Define social factors (in relation to conformity).

Social factors are stimuli and influences from outside of the person, such as other people, the physical environment, and the specific characteristics of the situation.

How does group size affect conformity?

Conformity rises sharply as group size increases from one to three confederates, but beyond three , adding more confederates makes little further difference .

With two confederates, conformity to the wrong answer was 13.6%, rising to % with three confederates.

With two confederates, conformity to the wrong answer was 13.6%, rising to 31.8% with three confederates.

True or False? When Asch allowed participants to give their answers anonymously, conformity rates fell.

True. It is difficult to voice opinions against the group as this risks rejection, but when Asch’s participants answered anonymously, conformity rates fell.

How does task difficulty affect conformity, according to Asch’s variation?

When Asch introduced a more difficult line-judging task, conformity increased , as people are more likely to conform when they feel they lack expertise.

What did Campbell & Fairey (1989) find about group size and conformity?

A larger group size ( 8–10 ) led to higher conformity when the topic was based on personal preference , such as taste in music.

What did Huang & Li (2016) find about anonymity and conformity?

When groups of friends (rather than strangers) expressed opinions, the conformity rate increased under the condition of anonymity.

Define disposition (in relation to conformity).

Disposition refers to the characteristics and personality traits of an individual, for example being more outgoing, competitive, or reserved than others.

Define an external locus of control (LOC) and its link to conformity.

An external LOC is the belief that factors outside of one’s control produce outcomes in life, and tends to go alongside higher levels of conformity .

How does an internal locus of control (LOC) relate to conformity?

An internal LOC is the belief that factors under one’s control produce outcomes in life, and tends to go alongside lower levels of conformity .

Burger & Cooper (1979) found that participants who scored high on an external LOC were more likely to than participants with a high internal LOC.

Burger & Cooper (1979) found that participants who scored high on an external LOC were more likely to laugh along with a confederate while watching cartoons than participants with a high internal LOC.

How does expertise relate to conformity?

High levels of expertise are linked to lower levels of conformity , as someone confident in their mastery of a subject is unlikely to be persuaded to doubt their own knowledge.

What did Lucas et al. (2006) find about expertise and conformity?

Maths specialists were less likely to conform to the majority answer to a tricky maths question than those who lacked confidence in their maths ability.

True or False? Perrin & Spencer (1980) found that engineering students conformed more often than in Asch’s original study.

False. Perrin & Spencer (1980) found that engineering students showed lower levels of conformity (conforming only once in 396 trials) in a replication of Asch’s line study, likely due to their expertise in technical drawing.

Give one weakness of using expertise to explain conformity.

The expertise explanation is reductionist , as it over-simplifies a complex issue — specialists may still conform even in situations involving their own expertise.

Give one weakness of using personality (LOC) to explain conformity.

Personality variables such as LOC are difficult to operationalise and measure , meaning research on this topic may lack reliability .

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Conformity (AQA GCSE Psychology): Flashcards

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FrontAsch's Study of Conformity
Define conformity.

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Cards in this collection (31)

Define conformity.
Conformity is a form of social influence that occurs when a person’s behaviour or thinking changes as a result of group pressure — pressure which may be real or imagined.
What is meant by compliance in relation to conformity?
Compliance is when people go along with and appear to agree with the majority even when they privately disagree with the group’s ideas or opinions.
True or False?
Conformity is the same as obedience.
False.
Conformity involves going along with and being guided by the group, whereas obedience involves carrying out the instructions or orders of an individual authority figure.
Give two reasons why conformity might occur, according to the note.
People conform because they wish to be accepted by the majority of the group, or because they feel the group are better informed than they are themselves.
Give an example of conformity involving humour.
Laughing along to a joke you don’t actually find funny is an example of conformity.
Asch’s sample was made up of male students from the USA.
Asch’s sample was made up of 123 male students from the USA.
Define a critical trial in Asch’s study.
A critical trial was one of 12 trials (out of 18 total) in which the confederates all gave the same wrong answer to the line-judging question.
What task were participants asked to do in Asch’s line study?
Participants had to say which of the three comparison lines on the right of a card was the same length as the line shown on the left.
Each group in Asch’s study completed trials in total.
Each group in Asch’s study completed 18 trials in total.
How many confederates sat with each participant in Asch’s study?
Each participant sat with 6–8 confederates (other male students working for Asch).
True or False?
In Asch’s study, participants gave the wrong answer on 36.8% of the critical trials.
True.
Participants gave the wrong answer on 36.8% of the critical trials, and 75% of participants conformed at least once.
What did Asch conclude about conformity in an unambiguous situation?
Asch concluded that people will conform to the majority even when the situation is unambiguous, as it was clear what the correct answer was yet some participants still gave the wrong answer.
In Asch’s study, % of participants did not conform on any of the trials, showing resistance to social influence.
In Asch’s study, 25% of participants did not conform on any of the trials, showing resistance to social influence.
Why might Asch’s study lack validity?
The task was low status and low jeopardy — it didn’t matter whether a participant conformed or not, making it an artificial situation that lowers the validity of the findings.
Give one strength of Asch’s study.
Asch used a replicable procedure, meaning the study could be repeated many times to check for reliability.
Define social factors (in relation to conformity).
Social factors are stimuli and influences from outside of the person, such as other people, the physical environment, and the specific characteristics of the situation.
How does group size affect conformity?
Conformity rises sharply as group size increases from one to three confederates, but beyond three, adding more confederates makes little further difference.
With two confederates, conformity to the wrong answer was 13.6%, rising to % with three confederates.
With two confederates, conformity to the wrong answer was 13.6%, rising to 31.8% with three confederates.
True or False?
When Asch allowed participants to give their answers anonymously, conformity rates fell.
True.
It is difficult to voice opinions against the group as this risks rejection, but when Asch’s participants answered anonymously, conformity rates fell.
How does task difficulty affect conformity, according to Asch’s variation?
When Asch introduced a more difficult line-judging task, conformity increased, as people are more likely to conform when they feel they lack expertise.
What did Campbell & Fairey (1989) find about group size and conformity?
A larger group size (8–10) led to higher conformity when the topic was based on personal preference, such as taste in music.
What did Huang & Li (2016) find about anonymity and conformity?
When groups of friends (rather than strangers) expressed opinions, the conformity rate increased under the condition of anonymity.
Define disposition (in relation to conformity).
Disposition refers to the characteristics and personality traits of an individual, for example being more outgoing, competitive, or reserved than others.
Define an external locus of control (LOC) and its link to conformity.
An external LOC is the belief that factors outside of one’s control produce outcomes in life, and tends to go alongside higher levels of conformity.
How does an internal locus of control (LOC) relate to conformity?
An internal LOC is the belief that factors under one’s control produce outcomes in life, and tends to go alongside lower levels of conformity.
Burger & Cooper (1979) found that participants who scored high on an external LOC were more likely to than participants with a high internal LOC.
Burger & Cooper (1979) found that participants who scored high on an external LOC were more likely to laugh along with a confederate while watching cartoons than participants with a high internal LOC.
How does expertise relate to conformity?
High levels of expertise are linked to lower levels of conformity, as someone confident in their mastery of a subject is unlikely to be persuaded to doubt their own knowledge.
What did Lucas et al. (2006) find about expertise and conformity?
Maths specialists were less likely to conform to the majority answer to a tricky maths question than those who lacked confidence in their maths ability.
True or False?
Perrin & Spencer (1980) found that engineering students conformed more often than in Asch’s original study.
False.
Perrin & Spencer (1980) found that engineering students showed lower levels of conformity (conforming only once in 396 trials) in a replication of Asch’s line study, likely due to their expertise in technical drawing.
Give one weakness of using expertise to explain conformity.
The expertise explanation is reductionist, as it over-simplifies a complex issue — specialists may still conform even in situations involving their own expertise.
Give one weakness of using personality (LOC) to explain conformity.
Personality variables such as LOC are difficult to operationalise and measure, meaning research on this topic may lack reliability.

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