Why would a person give a wrong answer they can see is wrong, just because four strangers already said it?
That is Asch’s line studies of conformity: matching the group (Myers & DeWall, 2021; Spielman et al., 2020). Social psychology studies how people think about, influence, and relate to one another. Obedience is a different procedure: a direct order from an authority (Milgram). Figure 18.1 is the Asch comparison so the wrong answer can be pointed at as a match to the group, not as a failure of vision.
If you decide a stranger is “rude” after one short reply, what kind of inference is that?
An attribution to disposition. The fundamental attribution error is overweighting that disposition and underweighting the situation. Social Psychology will slow this down. This survey only has to name influence (conformity, obedience) and inference (attribution) as different jobs.
| Card | Job in the procedure |
|---|---|
| standard | The line the person can see. |
| A / B / C | Three comparison lines; B matches. Confederates may say A or C. |
Check yourself with a quick quiz
A few questions on this lesson only. Questions you miss come back later. Progress stays in this browser and is shared with the full quiz.
References
- Myers, D. G., & DeWall, C. N. (2021). Psychology (13th ed.). Worth.
- Spielman, R. M., Jenkins, W. J., & Lovett, M. D. (2020). Psychology 2e. OpenStax.
Image and media credits
- Top image. Four cards printed with lines of different lengths. It sets the scene for this lesson on social psychology. Source: Created for this site with Grok Imagine (xAI), an AI image generator. License: Original image made for mattgaugerx.com.
