Conformity can be defined as changing behavior as a result of group pressures even though no direct request has been made to comply with the group.

Crutchfield (1955) Participants: 100 military and business men around the age of 34 Men were divided into 5 groups and they sat in groups side by side and they were not allowed to talk. They were then asked questions off a projector and had to answer using a switch. Results: 37% of participants would say they “wouldn’t make a good team leader” when in a group, but when alone that answer changed. Why?: lack of confidence, less leadership ability, lacking social networks, or not very liked.

Asch (1951) Aim: what extent a person would conform to an incorrect answer on a test if the response from the other members of the group was unanimous? Goal: to see if the participant would conform to the wrong answers given by the confederates, even when it was very clear that this response was incorrect. Procedures: a. The participant entered a room where there were six people and the researcher. b. The confederates were dressed like businessmen, in suits and ties. (The confederates had been instructed to answer correctly for some of the trials, but to answer incorrectly for the majority of the trials.) c. After the participant took his seat, the group was told that they were going to take part in “a psychological experiment on visual judgment”. d. They were then shown cards. e. The participant was asked to select the line from the second card that matched the length of the line on the first card. f. There were 18 trials in total. In some of the trials, the difference in the lines was hardly noticeable, while in others, it was very clear.

Findings: a. About 75 percent of the participants agreed with the confederates’ incorrect response at least once during the trials. b. Asch found that a mean of 32 percent of the participants agreed with the incorrect response in half or more of the trials c. However, 24 percent of the participants did not conform to any of the incorrect responses given by the confederates.

QUIZ 1)What is conformity? 2)What did Crutchfield(1955) do? 3)What did Asch(1951) do? 4)Why do you think people would rather agree with others before themselves?

Sources research-on-conformity-to-group-norms.pdfhttp://ibpsychologynotes.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/09-evaluate- research-on-conformity-to-group-norms.pdf conformity+to+group+normshttp://iseibpsychology2012.wikispaces.com/Evaluate+research+on+ conformity+to+group+norms