is research into conformity worthwhile?
“Is research into conformity and obedience worthwhile? Showing you have considered both points of view”
Conformity is the ‘tendency for people to adapt the behaviour, attitudes and values of a reference group’. However, obedience is a type of social influence whereby somebody acts in response to a direct order from a figure with perceived authority. There is also the implication that the person receiving the order is made to respond in a way that they would not have otherwise have done without the order.
An example of research into conformity is by Ash (1959) who tested compliance in conformity. He had the aim of testing whether participants conform to an obviously wrong answer when asked a very easy question. The procedure took place by using 50 male college students who entered the room separately. The room had seven other people within the room of who were confederates and thus knew the nature of the experiment. The seating plan was as follows: C C C C C C P C. Participants were shown pairs of cards and asked to match the lines in each card; they had to answer aloud which line matched the stimulus. In total 18 trials took place of which the confederates gave the wrong answer in 12 (critical trials.)Asch found that 74% of the participant’s conformed at least once and 32% was the mean average rate of conformity. Asch also found that common participant behaviour included: sweating, coughing nervously, turning red and shifting uncomfortably in seats.
In terms of whether or not the research carried out by Asch was worthwhile or not one may argue that it did generate subsequent research and he did find common symptoms that people posses when they are uncomfortable with what is going on i.e. sweating, coughing nervously and turning red. Subsequent research allowed the three levels of conformity to be found by Kelman: compliance: publicly conforming on the surface to behaviour of others, but privately disagreeing internally. Identification: adopting the beliefs of
Conformity is the ‘tendency for people to adapt the behaviour, attitudes and values of a reference group’. However, obedience is a type of social influence whereby somebody acts in response to a direct order from a figure with perceived authority. There is also the implication that the person receiving the order is made to respond in a way that they would not have otherwise have done without the order.
An example of research into conformity is by Ash (1959) who tested compliance in conformity. He had the aim of testing whether participants conform to an obviously wrong answer when asked a very easy question. The procedure took place by using 50 male college students who entered the room separately. The room had seven other people within the room of who were confederates and thus knew the nature of the experiment. The seating plan was as follows: C C C C C C P C. Participants were shown pairs of cards and asked to match the lines in each card; they had to answer aloud which line matched the stimulus. In total 18 trials took place of which the confederates gave the wrong answer in 12 (critical trials.)Asch found that 74% of the participant’s conformed at least once and 32% was the mean average rate of conformity. Asch also found that common participant behaviour included: sweating, coughing nervously, turning red and shifting uncomfortably in seats.
In terms of whether or not the research carried out by Asch was worthwhile or not one may argue that it did generate subsequent research and he did find common symptoms that people posses when they are uncomfortable with what is going on i.e. sweating, coughing nervously and turning red. Subsequent research allowed the three levels of conformity to be found by Kelman: compliance: publicly conforming on the surface to behaviour of others, but privately disagreeing internally. Identification: adopting the beliefs of