Asch and variables affecting conformity | AQA A-Level Psychology Revision
Updated: Sep 8
For 7182 specification, first teach in September 2025
AQA A-Level Psychology | Free Revision Notes
Estimated study time: 40 minutes
These Asch and variables affecting conformity A-Level Psychology revision notes examine how group pressure can influence an individual’s judgement. You will learn how Asch investigated conformity and how group size, unanimity and task difficulty affected participants’ responses. This research develops your understanding of why people follow a majority and helps you evaluate the methods psychologists use to study social influence. The AQA specification names all three variables as compulsory content.
Learning Objectives 🎯
By the end of this revision page, you should be able to:
Describe how Asch investigated conformity.
Define group size, unanimity and task difficulty.
Explain how each variable affects conformity.
Apply the variables to unfamiliar situations.
Analyse findings from research into conformity.
Evaluate Asch’s research into variables affecting conformity.
Revision Notes đź“š
Asch and variables affecting conformity A-Level Psychology revision overview
Asch investigated whether an individual would conform to the judgement of a majority, even when the majority’s response was clearly incorrect.
His research focused on three variables that may alter the strength of group pressure:
Group size, the number of people forming the majority.
Unanimity, whether every member of the majority gives the same response.
Task difficulty, how easy or difficult it is to identify the correct answer.
These variables describe the conditions under which conformity becomes more or less likely. They can be connected to both informational social influence and normative social influence.
How Asch investigated conformity
Asch used a controlled line-judgement task. Participants were shown a standard line and a set of comparison lines. Their task was to state which comparison line matched the standard line in length.
The correct answer was designed to be clear in the basic procedure.
A group completing the task included:
One genuine, or naive, participant.
Several confederates, who were working with the researcher.
A standardised order in which group members gave their answers.
The genuine participant did not know that the other group members were confederates. On selected trials, the confederates gave the same incorrect answer before the genuine participant responded.
The researcher then recorded whether the participant:
Gave the visibly correct answer.
Conformed by giving the same incorrect answer as the majority.
This allowed Asch to investigate whether group pressure could cause people to deny the evidence of their own perception.
Official AQA assessment materials refer to the standardisation of the number of confederates and the lengths of the lines. They also describe the manipulation of the group’s response and the measurement of its effect on the participant’s answer.
The variables in Asch’s research
Variable | What Asch changed | What was investigated |
Group size | The number of confederates forming the majority | Whether a larger majority produced more conformity |
Unanimity | Whether all confederates gave the same answer | Whether conformity changed when one person disagreed with the majority |
Task difficulty | How easy it was to distinguish between the lines | Whether greater uncertainty increased conformity |
Asch’s research therefore involved the experimental manipulation of conditions. Understanding how an independent variable is altered and its effect measured will support your later work on laboratory and field investigations.
The effect of group size
Group size refers to the number of people in the majority.
When the majority contained very few people, the pressure to conform was relatively weak. As the size of the majority increased, conformity also increased.
However, adding more people did not continue increasing conformity indefinitely. Once a small majority had been established, additional members produced comparatively little extra influence.
The overall pattern can be summarised as:
Increasing the size of the majority initially increases conformity, but the effect eventually levels off.
Why might group size affect conformity?
A larger majority may create stronger normative social influence because:
The group’s position appears to represent a clear social norm.
Disagreeing means standing apart from more people.
The individual may become increasingly concerned about rejection or embarrassment.
Group size could also have an informational effect. When several people agree, the individual may think that the majority is more likely to be correct.
However, when a very large group gives an obviously incorrect answer, the participant might become suspicious about the situation. This helps explain why the influence of group size is not necessarily unlimited.
Applying group size
Five students confidently give the same answer during a group task. A sixth student privately disagrees but changes their response to match the others.
Group size may have contributed because the student faced a clear majority. The pressure would generally be weaker if only one other person had given the different answer.
When answering an application question, do not simply write that “there were lots of people”. Explain how the size of the majority increased the pressure to agree.
The effect of unanimity
Unanimity means complete agreement among the members of a group.
In Asch’s basic procedure, the majority was unanimous because all the confederates gave the same incorrect response. Asch investigated what happened when this unanimity was broken.
When one person gave a different response from the majority, conformity decreased. The dissenter did not necessarily have to agree with the genuine participant. Their presence showed that the majority was not completely united.
The overall effect can be summarised as:
A unanimous majority produces greater conformity, while a lack of unanimity reduces conformity.
Why might unanimity affect conformity?
A dissenter can reduce conformity because they:
Break the impression that everyone agrees.
Make disagreement appear possible.
Reduce the social pressure placed on the participant.
Provide a form of social support.
Make the participant feel less isolated.
This prepares you for the role of an ally in resisting group pressure
Applying unanimity
A committee of eight people supports a proposal. At first, Talia feels unable to disagree. Another member then questions the proposal, and Talia expresses her own concerns.
The second person has broken the group’s unanimity. Talia is no longer the only potential dissenter, so the pressure to conform is reduced.
A strong answer should explain the psychological effect of the dissenter. Simply stating that “someone disagreed” is not enough.
The effect of task difficulty
Task difficulty refers to how challenging it is to identify the correct response.
Asch made the line-judgement task harder by making the differences between the comparison lines less clear. When the task became more difficult, conformity increased.
The overall effect can be summarised as:
Greater task difficulty increases conformity because the individual becomes less certain of the correct response.
Why might task difficulty affect conformity?
When a task is easy, a person can rely on their own judgement. When it becomes difficult, they may doubt their answer and look to others for guidance.
This is an example of informational social influence because:
The person is uncertain.
The other group members appear confident.
The individual assumes that the group may be correct.
They adopt the majority’s response.
This directly connects Asch’s variation to the need to be correct.
Applying task difficulty
During a straightforward visual task, Kieran is confident that the group’s answer is wrong and gives his own response. When the visual differences become much harder to detect, he begins following the group.
Task difficulty has increased Kieran’s uncertainty. He may now treat the group as a source of useful information, making conformity more likely.
Comparing the three variables
Variable | Condition likely to increase conformity | Condition likely to reduce conformity | Likely psychological process |
Group size | A clear majority rather than one other person | A very small majority | Greater normative pressure and possible informational influence |
Unanimity | Every member of the majority agrees | One person breaks the group’s agreement | Social support and reduced normative pressure |
Task difficulty | The correct answer is difficult to identify | The answer is obvious | Increased informational social influence |
A useful way to remember the variables is:
Size:Â How many people agree?
Unanimity:Â Does everyone agree?
Difficulty:Â How sure is the participant?
Relationships between the variables
The three variables do not operate in exactly the same way.
Group size and unanimity mainly alter the strength and consistency of the majority. They affect how much social pressure the individual experiences.
Task difficulty mainly alters the individual’s certainty. It affects how strongly the person depends on the group for information.
This means the variables can be connected to different explanations:
A larger or unanimous group may create greater normative social influence.
A difficult task may create greater informational social influence.
A dissenter may provide social support, reducing conformity.
The variables help explain the conditions affecting majority influence. By contrast, consistency, commitment and flexibility explain how a smaller group may influence a majority.
Numerical findings from Asch’s variations
The provided specification identifies the direction of study through group size, unanimity and task difficulty, but it does not give the exact numerical findings from Asch’s original experiments or variations.
The provided source material does not contain enough information to complete this section accurately.
Exact percentages have therefore not been attributed to Asch on this page. Focus on learning the direction of each effect and being able to explain why it occurred.
Evaluating Asch’s research
Scientific control and replicability
A strength of Asch’s research was its highly controlled and standardised procedure.
The researcher could keep features such as the line stimuli and order of responses consistent while altering a particular variable. This made it easier to investigate the effect of:
Group size
Unanimity
Task difficulty
Standardisation also increases replicability, because another researcher can repeat the procedure in the same way. This connects to the importance of objectivity, replicability and falsifiability.
Because Asch systematically manipulated conditions and measured conformity, the research could provide evidence of a relationship between the chosen variable and participants’ responses.
Artificial task
A limitation is that judging line lengths is an artificial task.
Everyday conformity may involve decisions that are:
More personally meaningful.
Less clearly correct or incorrect.
Connected to relationships, beliefs or consequences.
Made over a longer period.
Participants’ responses to an artificial visual judgement may not fully represent conformity in real social situations. This may reduce the ecological validity of the research.
When using this evaluation, make the link explicit:
Because the line task differs from meaningful everyday group decisions, the findings may not fully explain conformity outside the research setting.
Avoid writing only “the study lacked ecological validity”. An evaluation point earns more credit when you explain why the limitation matters.
Understanding different forms of ecological and temporal validity will help you develop this argument accurately.
Deception
Asch’s participants were not aware that the other members of the group were confederates working with the researcher. They were therefore misled about the true nature of the social situation.
This raises the ethical issue of deception.
The deception was important to the procedure because knowing the truth could have changed the participants’ responses. However, the need for a realistic reaction must be balanced against the participant’s right not to be deliberately misled.
This is a useful example when studying ethical issues and how psychologists address them. Official AQA assessment material specifically identifies the participants’ lack of awareness that the other people were confederates as deception.
The research helped explain conformity
Asch’s findings have theoretical value because they show that conformity is affected by identifiable social and situational conditions.
For example:
The effect of task difficulty can be explained using informational social influence.
The effect of a unanimous majority can be explained using normative pressure.
The effect of a dissenter can be explained using social support.
This means Asch’s variations do more than demonstrate that conformity occurs. They help psychologists explain why the rate of conformity changes between situations.
Methodological criticism must be relevant
A criticism of the method is only valuable when it affects what can be concluded.
For example:
The line task was artificial, so the findings may not generalise to meaningful decisions involving friends, beliefs or personal consequences.
This is stronger than:
It was a laboratory experiment, so it was bad.
The first statement explains how the method may restrict the usefulness of the findings. The second is an unsupported, generic criticism.
Applying Asch’s variables in examinations
Application questions may describe people facing a majority in an unfamiliar setting. Use the following process:
Identify the variable.
Is the scenario about the number of people, complete agreement or uncertainty?
Select evidence from the scenario.
Refer to the detail that demonstrates the variable.
State the likely effect.
Explain whether conformity should increase or decrease.
Explain the psychological process.
Link the variable to normative social influence, informational social influence or social support.
Example
Seven experienced employees give the same answer during a difficult training activity. Joel is unsure of his own judgement and follows their response. One employee then challenges the majority, after which Joel gives his original answer.
A developed application could explain:
The difficult task created uncertainty, increasing informational social influence.
The clear majority may have increased the pressure to conform.
The employee who challenged the group broke unanimity and provided social support.
Once the group was no longer unanimous, Joel found it easier to give an independent response.
This type of answer applies several ideas rather than merely spotting isolated words.
Hints from the Examiner Reports đź’ˇ
Examiner hint: When a question asks for evaluation or a limitation, avoid giving a lengthy description of Asch’s procedure. Use only the study detail needed to develop the evaluation point.
Examiner hint:Â Do not give a generic methodological criticism. Explain how the issue affects the conclusions that can be drawn about conformity.
For example:
The task was artificial, so behaviour during line judgements may not represent conformity in meaningful everyday situations.
Examiner hint:Â Research evidence must be linked to the psychological point it supports. If you use the task-difficulty variation, explain how greater uncertainty supports informational social influence.
Examiner hint:Â In an application question, do not simply copy a sentence from the scenario. Explain why the detail demonstrates group size, unanimity or task difficulty.
Examiner hint: Use specialist terminology accurately. Distinguish the confederates, who follow the researcher’s instructions, from the naive participant, whose conformity is being measured.
Examiner hint:Â In an extended response, maintain a clear balance between accurate description and developed evaluation. AQA examiner reporting has warned that generic criticism and irrelevant study description weaken evaluative answers.
Common Mistakes ⚠️
Mistake: Saying that conformity always increases whenever another person joins the group
Why this is incorrect:
The influence of group size is not unlimited. Conformity initially increases as the majority grows, but additional group members eventually have little extra effect.
How to improve:
State that conformity rises as a clear majority develops, before the effect levels off.
Mistake: Confusing group size with unanimity
Why this is incorrect:
Group size concerns how many people form the majority. Unanimity concerns whether every group member agrees.
How to improve:
Ask two separate questions:
How many people are in the majority?
Do all of them give the same response?
Mistake: Claiming that a dissenter must give the correct answer
Why this is incorrect:
The important feature is that the dissenter breaks the majority’s complete agreement. This can reduce conformity because the participant is no longer facing a unanimous group.
How to improve:
Explain that the presence of disagreement weakens group pressure and may provide social support.
Mistake: Saying that a difficult task directly forces someone to conform
Why this is incorrect:
Task difficulty increases uncertainty. This makes a person more likely to depend on the group for information.
How to improve:
Include the full chain:
Greater difficulty → greater uncertainty → increased informational social influence → greater conformity.
Mistake: Describing the variable but not explaining its effect
Why this is incorrect:
Stating that Asch increased the number of confederates does not explain what happened to conformity.
How to improve:
Always include both the manipulation and its effect:
As the majority became larger, conformity initially increased.
Mistake: Treating confederates as ordinary participants
Why this is incorrect:
Confederates worked with the researcher and gave predetermined responses. The genuine participant did not know this.
How to improve:
Use confederate for the members controlled by the researcher and naive participant for the person whose response was measured.
Mistake: Writing that Asch proved everyone conforms
Why this is incorrect:
The research showed that group pressure could produce conformity under particular conditions. It did not establish that every person always conforms.
How to improve:
Use cautious language such as:
Asch demonstrated that a unanimous majority can increase the likelihood of conformity.
Mistake: Giving an undeveloped evaluation point
Why this is incorrect:
Statements such as “the study was artificial” do not explain why the issue matters.
How to improve:
Develop the consequence:
The artificial line task may reduce ecological validity because everyday conformity often involves more meaningful decisions.
Mistake: Evaluating the study without answering the question
Why this is incorrect:
A memorised criticism may be irrelevant if the question asks specifically about a variable or explanation.
How to improve:
Repeat the focus of the question in your evaluation. For example, explain whether the evidence supports a conclusion about task difficulty, rather than criticising laboratory research generally.
Exam-Style Questions ✍️
Question 1
Which one of the following variables refers to complete agreement among the members of a group?
A. Group size
B. Task difficulty
C. Unanimity
D. Internalisation
[1 mark]
reveal mark scheme and indicative content
Answer: C. Unanimity
Unanimity means that all members of the majority give the same response or hold the same view.
Question 2
Outline how Asch used a line-judgement task to investigate conformity.
[4 marks]
reveal mark scheme and indicative content
Mark scheme
AO1 = 4
Award 1 mark for each relevant point, up to 4 marks.
Indicative content
Participants viewed a standard line and three comparison lines.
They had to identify which comparison line matched the standard line.
The genuine participant was placed with several confederates.
Confederates gave the same deliberately incorrect answer on critical trials.
The genuine participant answered after hearing the majority's responses.
Conformity was measured by whether the participant gave the same incorrect answer as the majority.
Example answer
Asch showed participants a standard line and three comparison lines and asked which comparison line was the same length. The genuine participant was placed with confederates who deliberately gave the same incorrect answer on certain trials. The participant answered after hearing the group, allowing Asch to measure whether they conformed to the incorrect majority.
Question 3
Explain how group size affected conformity in Asch’s research.
[3 marks]
reveal mark scheme and indicative content
Mark scheme
AO1 = 3
1 mark for stating that conformity increased as the majority increased in size.
1 mark for identifying that the main increase occurred up to a majority of about three.
1 mark for explaining that further increases produced little additional conformity.
Indicative content
One confederate produced very little conformity.
Conformity increased with two and then three confederates.
Beyond about three members, increasing group size had relatively little additional effect.
Example answer
Asch found that conformity increased as the majority became larger, particularly when group size increased from one to three people. Once the majority reached about three, adding further people produced little additional increase in conformity.
Question 4
A group of six students gives the same answer to a classroom problem. Mason believes that their answer is wrong but feels uncomfortable being the only person who disagrees.
Use your knowledge of variables affecting conformity to explain why Mason might follow the group.
[4 marks]
reveal mark scheme and indicative content
Mark scheme
AO2 = 4
Award 1 mark each for relevant application, for example:
The six students form a relatively large majority.
Larger groups generally create greater conformity pressure than very small groups.
The group is unanimous, because all six give the same answer.
Mason has no ally, so he may experience greater pressure to conform rather than be the only dissenter.
Indicative content
Mason may experience normative pressure because he is faced with a large, unanimous majority and is uncomfortable standing alone.
Example answer
Mason faces a relatively large majority because six students give the same answer. Asch found that larger groups produce greater conformity than very small groups, although the effect levels off. The group is also unanimous, so Mason has no support for his view. This increases the pressure to agree rather than be the only person who disagrees.
Question 5
During a team meeting, every employee supports the manager’s proposal. Leila does not express her concerns. One employee then questions the proposal, after which Leila also gives her opinion.
Explain Leila’s behaviour with reference to unanimity.
[4 marks]
reveal mark scheme and indicative content
Mark scheme
AO2 = 4
Award 1 mark each for:
Recognising that initially the group is unanimous.
Explaining that unanimity increases pressure to conform.
Recognising that the employee who questions the proposal breaks unanimity.
Explaining that this provides social support/reduces pressure, making Leila more likely to express her own view.
Example answer
Initially, all the employees support the proposal, so the group is unanimous and Leila experiences strong pressure to conform. When one employee disagrees, unanimity is broken. Leila now has social support for dissent, which reduces the pressure to agree and makes her more confident about expressing her concerns.
Question 6
A psychologist carried out a replication of a conformity study. The table shows the percentage of responses that conformed to an incorrect majority.
Number of people in the majority | Conformist responses |
1 | 5% |
2 | 14% |
3 | 30% |
6 | 31% |
Describe the pattern shown in the table. What conclusion could the psychologist draw about group size and conformity?
[4 marks]
reveal mark scheme and indicative content
Mark scheme
AO2 = 4
Award 1 mark each for:
Conformity rises from 5% with one person to 14% with two.
It rises substantially to 30% with three.
Increasing the majority from three to six produces almost no further increase, 30% to 31%.
Conclusion: increasing group size increases conformity up to a point, after which the effect levels off.
Example answer
Conformity increases as the majority increases from one to three people, rising from 5% to 30%. However, increasing the majority to six only raises conformity to 31%. The psychologist could conclude that group size increases conformity up to about three people, after which additional group members have little effect.
Question 7
Participants complete two visual-judgement conditions.
In Condition A, the correct answer is easy to identify.
In Condition B, the comparison stimuli are very similar, making the correct answer difficult to identify.
The other group members confidently give the same incorrect answer in both conditions.
Explain why conformity is likely to be higher in Condition B.
[4 marks]
reveal mark scheme and indicative content
Mark scheme
AO2 = 4
Award 1 mark each for:
Condition B is more difficult/ambiguous.
Greater difficulty creates uncertainty about the correct response.
Participants are therefore more likely to look to the group for guidance.
This increases informational social influence, making conformity to the majority more likely.
AQA explicitly links Asch's task-difficulty variation with informational social influence.
Example answer
Conformity is likely to be higher in Condition B because the correct answer is harder to identify. This increases uncertainty, so participants are more likely to believe that the other group members know the correct answer. Informational social influence therefore becomes stronger, increasing conformity.
Question 8
A participant is completing a difficult decision-making task with five other people. All five give the same answer. The participant is unsure and follows their response. In a later trial, one group member gives a different answer and the participant responds independently.
Explain the participant’s behaviour with reference to task difficulty and unanimity.
[6 marks]
reveal mark scheme and indicative content
Mark scheme
AO2 = 6
Award up to 3 marks for task difficulty and 3 marks for unanimity.
Task difficulty
The participant is unsure because the task is difficult.
Uncertainty increases informational social influence.
The participant may assume the other five people are more likely to be correct.
Unanimity
Initially all five people give the same response, creating a unanimous majority.
This increases pressure to conform.
When one person gives a different answer, unanimity is broken, providing social support and making independent responding more likely.
Example answer
The difficult task makes the participant uncertain, so informational social influence is likely. They may assume the other five people know the correct answer and therefore follow them. In the first trial the majority is also unanimous, which increases conformity pressure. In the later trial one person gives a different answer, breaking unanimity. This provides social support for disagreement and makes the participant more confident about responding independently.
Question 9
Explain one strength and one limitation of Asch’s research into variables affecting conformity.
[6 marks]
reveal mark scheme and indicative content
Mark scheme
AO3 = 6
Award up to 3 marks for the strength and 3 marks for the limitation.
For each:
1 mark for identifying the strength/limitation.
Up to 2 further marks for clear elaboration and explaining its significance.
Indicative content
Strength
Asch used highly standardised and controlled procedures.
Variables such as group size, unanimity and task difficulty could be systematically manipulated.
This makes the studies replicable and helps establish the effect of particular variables on conformity. AQA has specifically recognised Asch's standardised procedures as supporting replicability.
Limitation
The line-judgement task was artificial and unlike most real-life conformity situations.
Participants faced little consequence from giving the wrong answer.
Therefore conformity in the study may not fully represent conformity in everyday life, reducing ecological validity.
Example answer
One strength is that Asch used a highly controlled and standardised procedure. This allowed variables such as group size and unanimity to be changed while other factors were controlled, making it easier to identify their effects on conformity and allowing replication.
One limitation is that judging the length of lines is an artificial task with little consequence for participants. Real-life conformity often involves more meaningful decisions, so Asch's findings may have limited ecological validity.
Question 10
Discuss Asch’s research into variables affecting conformity. Refer to group size, unanimity and task difficulty in your answer.
[8 marks]
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