Task is to pick which of three lines is comparable in length to a standard line. Participant must decide to go along with the group or say the answer that appears obviously correct. Reduction indicates that normative influence was at work in the Asch studies. Even our perceptions of relatively unambiguous stimuli are socially constructed. Others influence how we see the world.
Social influence can make the unambiguous ambiguous.
Apply the norms of the group to the self. The identity of the group, its motivations, its way of understanding the world become part of the self. In the Sherif-like study, conformity did not occur when participants were told they were from different groups. Conformity especially high when participants were categorized as from the same group. Other factors influencing conformity.