THE EFFECTS OF SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS AND SELF-ESTEEM ON CONFORMITY TO A MAJORITY

Ninety-five Japanese students made judgments of line lengths under different levels of conformity pressure in the Asch/Crutchfield paradigm. Comformity pressure level (whether the preceding four or two 'others' unanimously picked a wrong choice) and public self-consciousness interacted; under high pressure, the higher the public self-consciousness, the more conforming responses. Independently, under high pressure, higher self-esteem led to fewer conforming responses. Under low pressure, neither public self-consciousness nor self-esteem had a significant effect. None of the following affected conformity: gender, private self-consciousness, or social self-esteem. In addition, anti-conformity (picking a wrong choice in the control trials where the ' others ' chose the correct one) was observed, replicating the findings first reported by Frager (1970). A gender by social self-esteem by block (first vs. second half of experimental task) interaction, a gender by self-esteem by block interaction, and a gender by public self-consciousness interaction separately affected the number of anti-conformity responses. Implications for self-consciousness theories are discussed.