Two Key Studies of Culture & its Influence on Behaviour: Smith & Bond (1996) & Levine & Norenzayan (1999) (SL IB Psychology)

Aim: To investigate conformity as a product of culture

Participants: The study was a meta-analysis which in total comprised 133 studies, from 17 countries which represented both collectivist and individualistic cultures. The countries included France, Fiji, Ghana, Hong Kong, Japan, the UK, and the USA

Procedure:

• A meta-analysis is a quantitative research method which uses the data from previously published studies on the same topic, in this case conformity rates as measured via the Asch paradigm (1951)
• This meta-analysis used statistics to analyse the findings of cross-cultural replications of Asch’s original study (which in itself had nothing to do with culture)
• Smith & Bond combined the findings of these studies to draw an overall conclusion about rates of conformity in collectivist cultures compared to individualistic cultures
• The findings are expressed as an effect size, in the case of this study this was linked to overall rate of conformity per country

Asch (1951) is a classic study of conformity; the procedure is as follows:

• A naïve participant is asked to state which of three lines to the right of a card is the same length as the line on the left of the card, for example:

• The participant is tested individually in a room with seven confederates and is always seated towards the end of the group
  The experimenter then asks each participant in turn to state which of the three lines on the right of the card are the same length as the target line on the left of the card
• In the critical trials the confederates always give the same wrong answer, so the dependent variable is measured as the number of conforming answers to the wrong answer
• Giving the wrong answer is evidence of normative social influence as, Asch concluded, the participants give the wrong answer to an easy task in order to be accepted and liked by the majority

Results:

• The highest rates of conformity were seen in more collectivist countries: the effect size from studies in Fiji was the highest at 2.48; Hong Kong scored 1.93 and Japan scored 1.42
• The lowest rates of conformity were found in individualist countries: the effect size from studies in France was 0.56; The Netherlands scored 0.74; the USA scored 0.90

Conclusion: Conformity may be affected by culture with collectivist cultures showing more conformity than individualistic cultures.

Evaluation of Smith & Bond (1996)

Strengths

• A meta-analysis provides a large amount of quantitative data from which researchers can extract information highlighting patterns and trends in behaviour which should be reliable due to the statistical power of large numbers
• Using replications of Asch’s conformity research means that the researchers had access to the results of studies which used a standardised procedure which should ensure that there is in-built reliability

Weaknesses

• The reliability of the findings is compromised somewhat by the fact that there was no consistency in terms of numbers of Asch replications per country: the meta-analysis used only two studies from France and Fiji but used 79 from the USA
• A meta-analysis is a rather ‘cold’ method to use for investigating human behaviour as it is purely statistical and cannot provide any explanation as to why conformity might occur more in collectivist cultures

Key terms:

• Meta-analysis
• Asch paradigm
• Effect size

Aim: To investigate the idea that the Japanese are conformist

Participants: 297 university students from Japan who belonged to the same college clubs (these did not include sports clubs)

Procedure:

• The participants were split into 40 groups, each consisting of between seven and nine participants: each group had one naïve participant
• The students participated in Asch’s classic conformity experiment involving identification of line length (see the above description of this procedure in Smith & Bond, 1996)

Results:

• The participants gave the wrong (conforming) answer in 12 out of a total of 18 critical trials, with a conformity rate of 25.2% (less than in Asch’s original research which showed a conformity rate of 32%)
• 14 participants did not conform at all in any of the critical trials, and 3 conformed in all 12 critical trials

Conclusion: The idea that the Japanese are highly conformist may be incorrect and may be based on outdated ideas about culture

Evaluation of Takano & Sogon (2008)

Strengths

• The results of this study help to puncture cultural stereotypes which suggest that all collectivist cultures – and particularly Japan - are conformist
• The study used Asch’s original standardised procedure which means that future replications of the study could be conducted to check for reliability

Weaknesses

• The participants were from the same university and attended the same non-sporting clubs which makes the results difficult to generalise as the sample does not represent a wider population
• As with Asch’s original procedure, there was no interaction between group members which is not a true reflection of how an individual is influenced by the majority in real life which means that the study lacks external validity

Key terms:

• Naïve participant
• Conformist
• External validity