Counseling psychology: the impact of authority and peer pressure as training variables

Assessed by use of a modified Asch paradigm the effects of peer and authority social pressure on the evaluative responses of 44 graduate students who were majoring in Counseling Psychology. Ss were assigned randomly to three research groups. Group one Ss rated video taped counseling segments for counselor effectiveness, while 4 peer confederates reported erroneous ratings for 10 of the 25 segments. The "peer" panel was removed, and the Ss rated the segments again in a postpressure condition. Group two was similar, except that 4 faculty confederates comprised the "authority" panel. Group three rated the segments in a no-pressure control condition. Results indicate that both pressure conditions produced significantly greater distortion (conformity) than in the controls and that authority pressure was not significantly more potent in eliciting conformance than peer pressure. It also was found that both groups retained a "residual" conformity effect after the social pressure was eliminated.