In this age range conformity is the norm. Teenagers follow fashion trends set by celebrities and regularly conform to social/peer pressure set by the people that they group with, for example smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol, and to the extreme of drug taking and crime. It is a worry to society today that youngsters DO conform to social pressure and do not stand up for what they believe. In a group of forty, twelve year olds, it was shown that 85% had tried smoking, and of that 85%, 49% of them had admitted to trying smoking because their friends had tried it. The same result was shown for alcohol consumption, 92% had tasted alcohol, 43% said that the drank alcohol because they thought that it was “Cool”.
Conformity amongst this age range will be interesting. Not only will it show evidence for statistical purposes but also will be an eye opener perhaps for youngsters living today that conformity is in fact “Not Cool” and that they shouldn’t do things just because their friends do.
Method
Design
This study used an experiment/repeated measures design. There was one independent variable – behaviour of accomplices.
The dependant variable was the judgement of the subject who had no idea that the experiment was taking place.
Participants
There were twenty-eight participants (fourteen female, fourteen male), all pupils at Belmont Academy, Ayr, all were aged 16 years and all had white ethnic backgrounds. (This was coincidental). Twenty-four of the participants knew that the experiment was going on and had been given a brief about what the experiment was all about. The other four participants took part in the study unwittingly, and therefore remained completely naive about the aims and purpose of the study.
Apparatus
The study took place in a completely empty room. Required were seven upright chairs. I wore normal clothes, nothing out of the ordinary (to ensure the subject did not feel manipulated in any way). Sets of six pairs of cards were needed.
Procedure
Participants were sat in an empty room (currently empty due to refurbishment). There were seven chairs laid out in a straight line. The six participants that knew about the experiment were seated in the first six chairs then the subject who was being analysed was seated at the end.
The participants were shown two cards, A and B. Card A had a single, vertical black line drawn on it. Card B had three vertical lines drawn on it, one of which matched the vertical line on card A, the other two lines on card B were distinctly different.
The participants were asked to compare the line on card A with each of the lines on card B and state for each line on card B, if it was the same length or a different length to that on card A.
The accomplices were instructed before hand to give the correct answer unanimously on the first three occasions and on the further three occasions unanimously give the wrong answers.
Results
The results from the experiment are as follows:
The pie chart shows the amount of time that the subject conformed to the social pressure.
As you can see from the results on the previous page it was amazing just how much conformity was shown in the expeniment as a whole.
Lets now look at the gender difference.
The pie chart below shows the percentage of females who conformed to social pressure.
The pie chart below shows the percentage of males who conformed to social pressure.
Analysing the results above it is easy to see that males are more likely to conform to social pressure than females at this age. It may be surprising how at a different age the results would differ.
Over all the results of the experiment are fairly adequate and prove the hypothesis: Participants will give a wrong answer more frequently when others present are unanimously give wrong answers.
Discussion
The main results were that 67% of a group of twenty-eight 16 years conformed to social pressure. This was exactly what was stated in the experimental hypothesis, before the experiment started.
Clear effects of conformity are therefore obviously present in this age group. The struggle to fit in, the nightmare of standing out from the crowd, and the joy of just being like everyone else. Perhaps the conformity shown in the experiment was answers so as not to look silly in front of friends or fellow peers. “If I answer different and get it wrong I will look silly, but if we all get it wrong no one will notice me.”
There were of course faults and limitations with the study.
- More participants could have been used to provide a more wide spread result.
- More data sets could have been used to also provide more wide spread results.
- A mixed gender group could have been arranged.
All of these would have provided a more accurate set of data results.
Conclusion
Overall I feel that the experimental study went well. I felt that I was organised and professional about going about the experiment. I feel that my results were an accurate response to my hypothesis. I also now feel that I have learnt more abut conformity as a whole, understanding the principles better and feeling more confident about answering questions about it in the examination.
References
The Milgram Experiment (1963)
Hamilton College – “Psychology Reports” – Greg Pierce
“ A quick guide to writing a lab report” – G R Stevenson