Social Psychology 461new confederate until there were four confederates; more than that did not increase the
participants’ tendency to conform (Asch, 1951). In a later experiment, Asch (1956) found
that conformity greatly decreased if there was just one confederate who gave the correct
answer—apparently, if participants knew that there was at least one other person whose
answer agreed with their own, the evidence of their own eyes won out over the pressure
to conform to the group.
Subsequent research in the United States has found less conformity among partici-
pants, perhaps suggesting that the Asch conformity effect was due to the more conform-
ing nature of people in the era and culture of the United States in the 1950s (Lalancette &
Standing, 1990; Nicholson et al., 1985; Perrin & Spencer, 1980, 1981). In other cultures,
however, studies have found conformity effects similar to those in Asch’s study (Neto,
1995). Still others have found even greater effects of conformity in collectivist cultures,
such as Hong Kong, Japan, and Zimbabwe (Bond & Smith, 1996; Kim & Markus, 1999).
This cultural difference may exist only when face-to-face contact is a part of the task,
however. One study found that when the Asch judgment task is presented in an online
format (participants were in communication but not able to see each other), the cultural
difference disappears (Cinnirella & Green, 2007).
What about gender—are men or women more conforming?Research shows that gender differences are practically nonexistent unless the sit-
uation involves behavior that is not private. If it is possible to give responses in private,
Standard line Comparison lines123Figure 12.1 Stimuli Used in Asch’s Study
Participants in Asch’s famous study on conformity were first shown the standard line. They were then shown
the three comparison lines and asked to determine which of the three was the standard line most similar.
Which line would you pick? What if you were one of several people, and everyone who answered ahead of
you chose line 3? How would that affect your answer?
SOURCE: Adapted from Asch (1956).
Interactive