VI152 Replication of the Asch experiment without using confederates

1
VI-152Replication of the Asch experiment without
using confederates

• ?Purpose?
• To utilize a newly developed presentation trick
  to replicate the Asch line judgment conformity
  experiments without using confederates.
• Kazuo Mori1)2) Miho Arai1)3)
• 1 Shinshu University,
• 2 Present affiliation Tokyo University of
  Agriculture and Technology,
• 3 Present affiliation Kanto Gakuen University

Solomon E. Asch 1907-1996
2
The Asch (1956) experiments
Asch (1956) showed that a minority of one tended
to conform to a unanimous majority even when the
majority seemed to have made a wrong choice in a
simple visual discrimination task.
1
1
1
1
1
1
4
3
2
1
2?
1
8
7
6
5
1
Unnaturalness Unable to control interpersonal
relations Difficult to find good child
confederates
Drawbacks of using confederates
2
3
The Crutchfield (1955) Paradigm A classic
attempt without using confederates
Participants sat individually in cubicles with
the stimulus cards and a row of switches and
lights in front of them. They had to press the
switch that corresponded to their judgment in
turns. They were told that the lights showed the
response of other participants, in fact the
experimenter controlled these. Each was told
that they would be the last person to give a
judgment.
Lights
Buttons
Unnaturalness No face-to-face interpersonal
relations Less conformity pressure
Drawbacks of the Crutchfield Paradigm
3
4
MethodThe fMORI Technique Since the Green and
the other two (Red and Blue) LCD panels are
placed perpendicularly in the projector, either
the Green or the Magenta fragments can be
separately blocked by polarizing filters. (See
Mori, 2007, for details.)
Green
S
T
Red Blue
Two pairs of polarizing sunglasses can separate
the G fragment and the RB fragments.
The G fragment and the RB fragments are
projected together onto the same screen.
4
5
Method Participants

• Twenty-six same-sex groups of four, 10 male and
  16 female groups, participated.
• The grouping was done by the experimenters from
  the undergraduate participant pool.
• Their seats were randomly assigned at the
  beginning of the session.
• The differing type of sunglasses was placed on
  the third seat.
• They were told to wear a pair of polarizing
  sunglasses to protect their eyes from glare.
• During the tasks the first and fourth viewers
  stood behind the second and third viewers.

The solitary participant answered third.
5
6
Method Stimulus sets
The nine stimulus sets used in Asch (1956) were
reproduced in approximately the same size when
projected on the screen using digital picture
editing software (Adobe Photoshop). The top parts
of the Standard lines were drawn in either green
or magenta so that two groups of participants
could see them differently to form a majority and
a minority utilizing the fMORI Technique.
6
7
Experimental Procedure
General instructions

• Each group did 18 trials in the same way as those
  in Asch (1956).
• The same nine trials were repeated twice.
• Three neutral tasks were identical for all. Six
  tasks were critical ones that appeared
  differently depending on their sunglasses they
  wore forming the majority of three and the
  solitary one.
• As each task was presented, all four participants
  answered aloud in turn. It took about 30 seconds
  for each task.
• After the line judgment tasks, participants
  answered the questionnaire individually.

Nine tasks (3 neutral 6 critical)
Nine tasks (3 neutral 6 critical)
Questionnaire on how they answered the tasks.
7
8
ResultsConformity to the majority

• The majority viewers unexpectedly had a
  considerable frequency of errors (8.2), which
  might have broken the solid majority during the
  judgment tasks.
• Therefore, all the data after anyone in the
  majority had made an error were excluded to
  obtain the Asch Equivalent condition.
• A similar error frequency was found even in the
  Asch Equivalent condition.

As expected, the solitary participants made more
errors than the majority participants.
8
9
ResultsGender differences

• There were no differences in error frequency
  between male and female viewers in the majority
  condition.
• However, when in solitary, female viewers made
  three times more errors than the female majority
  viewers.
• Therefore, the female solitary viewers showed
  conformity to the majority, while the male
  viewers did not.

Females conformed to the majority more often than
males did.
9
10
ResultsInteraction with the task difficulty

• Those viewers who observed the stimulus figures
  with a magenta background made more errors than
  those who observed them in a green background.
• In other words, the task was more difficult for
  those who observed the magenta background.
• The difference in error rates increased when the
  magenta viewers were in the solitary situation.
• The results showed that people would conform more
  when they faced difficulty.

The occurrence of conformity interacted with the
task difficulty. The more difficult the task, the
more often people would conform.
10
11
References

• Asch, S. E. (1956). Studies of Independence and
  Conformity I. A Minority of One Against a
  Unanimous Majority. Psychological Monograph
  General and Applied, 70(9), Whole No. 416.
• Crutchfield, R.S. (1955). Conformity and
  character. American Psychologist, 10, 191-198.
• Mori, K. (2007). Projecting two words with one
  machine Presenting two different visual stimuli
  using just one projector without viewers
  noticing the duality. To appear in Behavior
  Research Methods. (Pre-prints available from
  http//www.avis.ne.jp/uriuri/kaz/profile/papers/f
  MoriBRM2007.pdf)

11
12
Acknowledgments
This experiment was done while the authors were
at Shinshu University. This research is supported
by a Grant-in-Aid from the Japanese Ministry of
Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and
Technology (Grant No.16653054) to the first
author. We are indebted to Rebecca Ann Marck of
Shinshu University for her kind help in
preparation of the presentation slides. We also
thank Kimihiko Yamagishi of Tokyo Institute of
Technology. His comments on the earlier version
helped us to improve the presentation.
12