PSYC 1A BAR assignment PDF

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Achieved a D with this assignment. It is the BAR assignment based on Asches conformity experiments....

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Asch’s conformity experiments

Building a Rationale

Introduction The abstract notion of conformity has always been a fundamental characteristic of human nature and is defined as the process whereby individuals change their beliefs to match the overall majority in order to belong (Levine, 2010). The study of conformity is significant as it exhibits the individual’s willingness to surrender individualism in exchange for societal acceptance as a whole; dictated by societal pressures. The first major study regarding conformity was critically examined by Asch (1955, 1956) who was able to investigate the dimensions for an individual to conform with the independent variable in the form of a majority group (Mcleod, 2008, p.2.). Asche’s experiment consisted of two groups, an individual naïve participant and seven confederates with a predisposed set of incorrect responses. These participants were instructed to objectively compare and match the lines of 2 white cards, in which the first card depicted a single line length while the second card depicted 3 unique lines, with only one identical to the prior card shown . The conclusion of the 12 critical trials conducted with the incorrect answers of the confederates showcased a 75% rate of conformity at least once amongst the naïve participants in comparison to 6 control trials in which less than 1% of naïve participants responded with the wrong answer. Findings like these are in turn able to prove highly relevant in unravelling the social psychology that will ultimately aid the progression of psychological understanding in society as a whole. Although Asch’s experiment allows for many epiphanic findings, the experiment conducted still can be seen to contain gaps in both the validity and ethical nature of the methodology. This has catalysed many contemporary researchers to further replicate Asch’s paradigm, notably the experiment conducted by Kazuo Mori & Miho Arai (2010), modifying the initial experiment to reduce the human error of confederates. Stated within Mori & Arai was that confederates can produce suspicious and artificial behaviour and hence sabotaging the validity of the experiment (Mori et al., 2010, p390). Understanding this validity error as well as current ethical standpoints, the replication of the experiment utilising the “fMori technique”; a presentation technique in projecting two separate visual stimuli in a single screen without the user noticing (Mori et al., 2010, p.392). In conjunction the implementation of the fMori technique achieved through polarising glasses that filters green and magenta on the lines projected. In similar vein the research of Hertz and Wiese (2017) also utilised technological advancements as the basis of their research in relation to non-human agents. The study aimed to investigate whether human operators conform to the influence of the non-human agents such as computers or robots (Hertz et al., 2018, p.1208). The methodology of this experiment assigned 3 agent conditions (computer, robot and human) with all participants completing an analytical task and a social task comparing the differences in conformity through analysing whether participants had critical trials (i.e. when agents answered incorrectly). The results revealed that whereas the 3 unique agents revealed comparable levels of conformity during the analytical task, participants were seen less willing to conform with robots and computers as compared with humans when dealt with social tasks. This data supports that social conformity is much more effective in the presence of human agents and hence supporting Asch's paradigm. Up until recently most studies in regards to conformity have been conducted on adults and never on developing adolescents. Sun and Yu (2016) study was able to investigate the short term and sustained conformity of 5 to 6-year olds. The experiment presented these children to 90 stimulus (faces) presented followed by the witness of a group rating in the absence of peers. When presented again after the influence of peers the results showed that 6-year olds presented sustained conformity to their

Asch’s conformity experiments

Building a Rationale

peers up to one day after whilst the 5-year old’s did not. Previously it was believed that individuals aged their conformity will also decrease (Pasupathi et al., 1999., p171). These results accentuate the need to explore various variables that can have an effect on the topic of conformity. [672 words]

Rationale

The 21st century is currently experiencing an exponential growth in technology that has forced opinions of the majority to be readily exhibited through the medium of social media. However, it can clearly be seen that the 21st century society is disputing current norms in order to establish new ones, as evident in the recent strides made by the LGBTI+ community. However, the emergence of these factors in response to the conformity of individuals in the 21st century can prove as hazardous as it is revolutionary. On one hand social media aims to promote a majority opinion or idea while on the contrary popular media can cause the alienation of some individuals. Through the critical analysis of multivariate literature reviews, the concept of social conformity can be seen to be highly valuable especially to a contemporary audience. The Asch experiments in the 1950s acted as a pioneer for future studies in conformity and by extension, psychology. The recent Fmori technique presented in 2010 in relation to more specific experiments conducted by Sun and Yu (2016) and Hertz and Wiese (2017) all collectively argue only one variable of psychology. This variable is the nature of individuals to conform due to extrinsic pressure or agent performed on them to measure the extent of an individual succumbing to group pressure. However, in comparison to Asch’s experiment it can be extracted that more recent experiments yield different results possibly due to a discrepancy in context (environmental variables). Hence, rebutting the argument that the need to conform is only caused by group pressures but also pressures in relation to context. Therefore, constructing the basis of the question - Does conformity vary in individuals in the external variable of contextual change in timeline? My experiment proposed will contain the experimental group of a randomized group of complete strangers of different ages (550 years old) and genders, this removes bias associated with acquaintances that was present in the Mori and Arai experiments whilst expanding on the variables of age and gender that Asch's experiments had lacked. The experiment will follow the same procedure as Asch however instead of confederates, the Fmori technique will be utilised to for an efficient data collection in the correlation of age in understanding contextual circumstances on its effects of conformity. The data collected will be able to allow comparison of not only the effect of age affecting conformity but also relative to the individuals pre-existing environment (i.e access to social media). This will allow my study to gauge the extent of conformity amongst different age groups within the 21st century and for future experiments to be individualised at the age group with the most significant results in this data being extracted.

[448 words]

Asch’s conformity experiments

Building a Rationale

References Mori, K., & Arai, M. (2010). No need to fake it: Reproduction of the Asch experiment without confederates. International Journal of Psychology, 45(5), 390-397. McLeod, S. (2008). Asch experiment. Simply Psychology. Hertz, N., & Wiese, E. (2016, September). Influence of agent type and task ambiguity on conformity in social decision making. In Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting (Vol. 60, No. 1, pp. 313-317). Sage CA: Los Angeles, CA: SAGE Publications. Sun, S., & Yu, R. (2016). Social conformity persists at least one day in 6-year-old children. Scientific reports, 6(1), 1-9. Pasupathi, M. (1999). Age differences in response to conformity pressure for emotional and nonemotional material. Psychology and aging, 14(1), 170. Wooley, S. (2013). Constantly connected: The impact of social media and the advancement in technology on the study abroad experience. Elon Journal of Undergraduate Research in Communications, 4(2). Hart-Brinson, P. (2018). The gay marriage generation: How the LGBTQ movement transformed American culture. NYU Press....