Optional contemporary study: Huang et al. (2014)

Aim

To find out whether conformity is just a short-lived public change (compliance) or a change in privately held views, by testing how long the effect of a group norm lasts.

Procedure

• Participants: Chinese college students.
• They were told the study was about how people perceive facial attractiveness.
• They rated 280 digital photographs of young adult Chinese women on an 8-point scale (1 = not very attractive, 8 = very attractive).
• After each rating they were shown what was presented as the average rating of 200 other students. This group rating matched their own only 25% of the time; otherwise it was 1, 2 or 3 points higher or lower.
• Participants returned to re-rate the same faces 1 day, 3 days, 7 days or 3 months later.
• The design included a statistical control for regression to the mean (extreme ratings drifting towards the middle on re-rating).

Results, conclusions and evaluation

• Re-ratings moved towards the group norm at 1 day and 3 days later.
• No conformity effect was found at 7 days or 3 months.

Conclusion: group opinion does change private judgements, so the effect is more than momentary compliance, but the change is short-lived, lasting no more than about 3 days. The reason for the 3-day limit was not known; the authors planned to study possible brain mechanisms.

Evaluation: a large, standardised set of stimuli and a delayed private re-rating test private change rather than public compliance; controls for regression to the mean. But judging faces is a trivial task (low ecological validity), so beliefs that matter more (politics, values) may behave differently; one culture (Chinese students) limits generalisability; participants could hardly remember 280 group ratings, so the mechanism is unclear.

Worked example

A participant rated a face 6. The group rating shown was 3 points lower. What group rating was shown, and what would conformity look like when she re-rates the face 1 day later?

1. Group rating = 6 - 3 = 3.
2. Conformity: her re-rating moves towards 3, for example to 5.
3. At 7 days the study found no such shift on average.

Answer: The group rating was 3; conformity would mean re-rating below 6, towards 3 (found at 1 and 3 days, not at 7 days).

Check yourself

1. The group rating differed from the participant's own on 75% of the 280 faces. On how many faces did it differ?
   Show answer

   210 faces. 0.75 x 280 = 210 faces.

2. How long did the conformity effect last?
   • No more than about 3 days
   • At least 3 months
   • Only during the first session
   • Exactly 7 days
   Show answer

   No more than about 3 days. Effects appeared at 1 and 3 days but not at 7 days or 3 months.

3. What was the dependent variable?
   • The number of faces shown
   • The delay before re-rating
   • The participants' attractiveness ratings of the faces
   • The average rating of 200 students
   Show answer

   The participants' attractiveness ratings of the faces. Ratings were measured; the group norm and delay were manipulated.

4. What rating scale was used?
   • A yes/no judgement
   • An 8-point attractiveness scale (1 to 8)
   • A 100-point slider
   • Ranking the faces from best to worst
   Show answer

   An 8-point attractiveness scale (1 to 8). Faces were rated 1 to 8.

5. Why does the re-rating days later suggest private change rather than just compliance?
   • The group was present when they re-rated
   • Participants were paid to change their ratings
   • The faces were different at re-rating
   • Participants rated privately without the group norm in front of them, yet their ratings had shifted
   Show answer

   Participants rated privately without the group norm in front of them, yet their ratings had shifted. Without public pressure, a shift suggests their own judgement changed.

6. Give one weakness of Huang et al. (2014).
   Show answer

   Rating faces is a trivial, artificial task, so the findings may not generalise to important beliefs such as political opinions.. Task and sample limit how far the findings apply.

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Sources

• Pearson Edexcel International Advanced Subsidiary/Advanced Level in Psychology specification (issue January 2026)
• Pearson International A Level Psychology component guide: WPS01
• Psychological Science: Conformity to the opinions of other people lasts for no more than 3 days (abstract)
• EurekAlert! press release: Personal judgments are swayed by group opinion, but only for 3 days (2014)
• Psychology Today: Some conformity effects are short lived (2014)

Last updated 8 November 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.