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The amount of knowledge that we have (even setting aside the amount of wisdom that might accompany this) tends to make people more sure of themselves and thus less subject to want to change themselves to match others.
We determined to test the above ideas about a relationship between age and the urge to conform. Our hypothesis was the following: Older adults (40+ yrs) will conform less than younger adults (18-25 yrs) because older adults have greater self certainty and are less concerned with what others think of them.
Our research design was as follows. We first selected UIC students and faculty through a randomly process before categorizing them into two groups: Young adults (18-25) and middle-aged adults (40-60). The methodology was based on observations of the individuals. They were not aware of the fact that they were being observed. Because of this, we did not need to obtain their consent (since they were engaged in activities that they would have been pursuing anyway and in a public place).
Because of the fact that the research subjects were not aware of the fact that they were in fact research subjects, we believe that they were not unduly influenced by the methodology although the research design (detailed below) made the simultaneous presence in the same place of the researchers and their subjects necessary.
Method
The research took place in Elevator #2 at UH. The researchers did not speak to each other and were engaged in different ordinary tasks such as texting, listening to music, IM-ing). Each of the researchers, when they entered the elevator, turned so that they were facing the left side of the elevator rather than facing forward as we are all culturally...
The researchers noted whether anyone who was not a researcher also turned to the left and, if they did, did they stay facing the left wall or did they turn back to the front. The researchers made records not only of the age of each person but also of their gender and race.
Results
The results were surprising. A statistical analysis of our sample demonstrated that the older adults in our sample were no less likely to conform than were the younger adults in our sample. The results of the study were as follows:
The results prompted several conclusions with implications for further research.
Discussion
Future research project would not rely so heavily on assumptions about demographic attributes made by the researchers. We as researchers posited that we could accurately determine a subject's race, gender, and age. There was no accommodation made for any error that we might have made except for the fact that we made our division into age cohorts into highly differentiated ones. By placing the higher end of the younger group and the lower end of the older group so far from each other we hoped to avoid any ambiguity.
However, by omitting a large age cohort (the one that would have been slotted between the two age groups that we identified) we created an unintentional element of ambiguity for there were people who might well have been a part of that discounted group. By making assumptions about subjects' race and gender we also may have been forced to overlook important distinctions that we were unware of. Because race and gender are in large measure subjectively determined, our dependence on purely objective definitions of these categories may have resulted in our missing key data.
References
Asch, S.E. (1951). Effects of group pressure upon the modification and distortion of judgment. In E. Akert (ed.) Social Psychology. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Pasupathi, M. (1999). Age differences in response to conformity pressure for emotional and nonemotional material. Psychology and aging 14(1): 170-174.
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