Solomon Ashe The Line Experiment

Procedure

Results

Hypothesis

Sample

The Line Experiment Method and Design

Aim

Participant is put into a room with 7 other people that already have agreed answers in advance.

Majority of participants choose to conform, the reason being they think the group is smarter than themselves or they want to fit in with the group.

when confederates (fake participants) uniformly gave a particular response in a group setting, the lone true participant would feel pressure to conform to the group consensus

To show and demonstrate conformity to groups

50 male students from Swarthmore College in America

Solomon used the line judgment task designed with 7 other poeple other than the participant and tested if the participant conforms to the group.

74% of the participants conformed on at least one critical trial and 26% of the participants never conformed

Location: Swarthmore College

Dependant Variable: The subjects answer towards the question given

Independent Variable: The 7 other participants answers.

No prior information given about the experiment to the students

They were told that they were taking a vision test

Participant is asked the same question as the 7 others that have agreed answers

The participant is tested on social pressure. If the majority affects the answer of the participant.