Evaluating a Conformity Practical
A student conducts a practical for school assessment based on a line-judgement task. Participants are 30 Year 11 volunteers. Each participant completes 12 trials in a group where four confederates unanimously give an incorrect answer before the participant responds aloud. The student records the number of trials on which each participant conformed. The mean conformity rate is 4.1 out of 12. The student concludes that "people conform because they fear social rejection, and the results prove Asch's findings." During debriefing, several participants say they "actually thought the confederates might be right." The student did not obtain written informed consent from the confederates' parents, though all confederates were 16.
1. Explain how the debriefing comments challenge the student's explanation of conformity, and identify which type of conformity is better supported.
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The student attributes conformity to fear of social rejection, which corresponds to normative social influence: conforming to be liked or accepted. This explanation predicts that participants privately disagree with the group but publicly comply. The debriefing comments contradict this, because several participants reported genuinely believing the confederates might be right. That indicates informational social influence, where the individual accepts the group's judgement as evidence about reality, producing internalisation rather than mere compliance.
The data cannot distinguish these explanations on their own, because both produce the same public behaviour. The student's conclusion therefore overstates what the conformity counts show. The debriefing provides the qualitative evidence needed to interpret the behaviour, and it supports informational influence as at least a partial explanation. A stronger conclusion would acknowledge that both normative and informational influence may operate, and that self-report after the event has its own limitations, including possible demand characteristics or reluctance to admit to being influenced.
2. Identify the ethical problems in this practical and explain how each should be addressed.
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Informed consent: participants were volunteers, but the confederates were 16, so parental or guardian consent was required and was not obtained. Written informed consent should have been collected from confederates and, because they were minors, from their parents or guardians.
Deception: participants were misled about the purpose of the task and about the confederates' roles. Deception is permissible only when necessary and when it does not cause distress, and it must be followed by full debriefing that reveals the true aim and the use of confederates.
Protection from harm: conformity tasks can cause embarrassment or distress when participants realise they conformed. The researcher should monitor for distress, allow withdrawal at any time, and ensure debriefing reassures participants that conformity is normal.
Right to withdraw: this should have been made explicit before and during the task.
Confidentiality: individual conformity scores should not be linked to names in any report.
The existing debriefing is a strength but insufficient on its own, because it does not remedy the missing consent. The study should be redesigned with consent procedures, a full debrief, and ethics approval before data collection.