Classic Asch experiment

Unanimity of the Group: The unanimity of the majority had a profound impact on conformity. When all the confederates gave the same incorrect answer, the participant was much more likely to conform. However, if even just one confederate (a "dissenter") gave the correct answer, or even a different incorrect answer, the conformity rate of the naive participant dropped significantly (to around 5-10%). This demonstrates the power of social support in resisting group pressure. The presence of a dissenter, regardless of whether their dissenting answer was correct, broke the unanimous front of the majority and made it easier for the participant to stick to their own judgment.

Leadership: The classic Asch experiments did not explicitly manipulate leadership styles within the confederate group. The confederates were instructed to give predetermined answers in a consistent manner. Therefore, the direct effect of different leadership styles on conformity within this specific experimental design was not a primary focus or finding. However, the very act of a unanimous majority acting as an implicit "leader" in setting a group norm clearly exerted strong influence. Future research building on Asch's work could potentially explore how different leadership behaviors within the majority might further impact conformity levels. For instance, a more authoritarian or persuasive "leader" among the confederates might exert even greater pressure, while a more democratic or inclusive approach might have different effects. However, in the original paradigm, the key influence was the consistent, unified stance of the majority, rather than a specific leadership role within that majority.

In the classic Asch conformity experiments, several factors related to groups significantly affected the level of conformity displayed by individuals:

Group Size: Asch found that conformity increased with the size of the majority group, but only up to a certain point. Conformity rates were low when the participant was faced with only one or two confederates giving the wrong answer. However, with three confederates, conformity jumped to about 32% (the average conformity rate across all critical trials in the original study). Interestingly, increasing the group size beyond three confederates did not significantly increase the level of conformity. This suggests that the pressure to conform reaches its peak with a small majority.