Boys, Be Independent! Conformity Development of Japanese Children in the Asch Experiment without Using Confederates

Kazuo Mori, Akina Ito-Koyama, Miho Arai, Aiko Hanayama

Department of Clinical Psychology, Tokyo Kasei University, Tokyo, Japan.
Department of Educational Psychology, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Tokyo, Japan.
Faculty of Education, Shinshu University, Nagano, Japan.
Scientific Investigation Laboratory, Aomori Prefectural Police, Aomori, Japan.

DOI: 10.4236/psych.2014.57073                

Abstract

The Asch tasks were presented to 20 foursomes of Japanese 7^th graders (10 boy- and girl-four-somes) by means of a presentation trick so that one participant observed different stimuli than the other three. The response order was randomly assigned and the third responders observed different standard lines from the other three children. The results showed that the minority children who had observed different stimuli tended to conform to the majority. Combined with the previous results utilizing the same experimental procedure with two different age groups— six-year old children and undergraduates—a clear tendency was found for Japanese boys becoming more independent as they matured. Six-year-old Japanese boys conformed considerably, while male undergraduates seldom conformed, and the 7^th grade boys in the present study showed a moderate level of conformity. On the other hand, Japanese girls showed the same conformity frequencies regardless of age.

Keywords

Conformity, Gender Difference, Social Pressure, Junior High School Pupils

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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