Asch Conformity Essay

The age, gender, and ethnicity of participants also affected the outcomes in Asch’s investigation of conformity, which led to a biased view of the white population he used during his time. Asch used “subjects that were all… college students [that] ranged from 17 to 25; the mean age was 20” (5). As previously stated, about one-third of the experimental subjects conformed during the study. This study only looked at young adults, and young people tend to want to feel and be independent from what society considers normal. What about very young children? Walker and Andrade found in their experiments “that conformity decreases with age from childhood to maturity in the Asch (1956) situation” (371). The children used their study were “aged 3 to 5,

Neto’s study only used females, and we now have data on the conformity rate on females. The results showed that at least “59% of the women conformed once, [and that] 28% yielded three to twelve times” (Neto 217). This shows that women in a group tend to conform less on average, but shows that females are more likely to conform at least once more than men do. Both studies only tested one gender, but the rate of conformity between both genders are now widely known. Asch tested on “white college students” in his study (5). Studies conducted during the 1950s mostly had subjects from a white population. This limited the results of conformity of other ethnic populations like the Spanish or Asian groups. Perhaps subjects from Asia resist the effects of conformity. A Japanese study found that “while minority [of Japanese] women conformed, minority [of Japanese] men did not” (Mori and Arai 390). The study now shows another perspective of conformity with a Japanese population. Men in Japan seem to conform less and a reason is given as to why. Mori and Aria explain that “in Japanese culture, boys may become more independent and less conforming as they develop, while girls may remain conformable”