Final answer:
In Asch's study, group members sometimes provided information that they knew to be wrong. The pressure to conform led subjects to give incorrect answers, even though they knew they were incorrect. However, subjects were less likely to conform when they had a private opportunity to answer or if they had a dissenting ally in the group.
Step-by-step explanation:
In Asch's study on conformity, he found that in some conditions, group members would provide information that they knew to be wrong. For example, when faced with a unanimous wrong answer from the rest of the group, the subject conformed to a mean of four of the staged answers, even though they knew it was incorrect. However, when the subject was allowed to write down their answer privately instead of speaking it aloud, the number of examples of conformity decreased significantly.
Asch also discovered that the size of the group had an impact on the pressure felt by the subject to conform. Speaking up when only one other person gave an erroneous answer was more common than when five or six people defended the incorrect position. Furthermore, having a single ally in the group who dissented significantly reduced the subject's likelihood of conforming to the incorrect answer.