A Questionnaire Analysis of the Asch Experiment without Using Confederates

Abstract

Without using confederates, Mori and Arai (2010) replicated the Asch results with 40 male and 64 female Japanese undergraduates in same-sex groups of four. One from each foursome wore a different type of polarizing sunglasses so that he/she observed the standard lines differently form the other three participants, who played the same role as the majority in the Asch experiments. As expected, the minority participants tended to conform to the majority. There was a gender difference: the female minority participants conformed, but the males did not. The present study reported the qualitative findings from analysis of the responses on a questionnaire administered in the Mori and Arai experiments. It revealed that female participants who conformed more than the males were less confident and felt more isolated and anxious than the males.