1. SOCIAL INFLUENCE (VARIABLES AFFECTING CONFORMITY )

Question 1

What was Asch’s aim in his baseline study?

Answer 1

Asch aimed to investigate if participants would yield to majority social influence and give incorrect answers on a task, even when the correct answer was obvious.

Question 2

: How did Asch manipulate group size in his experiment?

Answer 2

Asch increased the number of confederates in the group to see how the size of the majority affected conformity.

Question 3

What were the effects of group size on conformity in Asch’s study?

Answer 3

Conformity increased with group size, but only up to a point. The conformity rate leveled off when the group size was greater than three. With three confederates, conformity was 31.8%, and with six confederates, it increased to 36.8%. Beyond six confederates, adding more made little difference.

Question 4

What happened to conformity when the group size was reduced to one confederate?

Answer 4

Conformity dropped to 4% when there was only one confederate, showing that smaller groups exert less pressure to conform.

Question 5

What is unanimity and how does it affect conformity?

Answer 5

Unanimity refers to the extent to which all group members agree. Conformity was highest when the majority was unanimous. If a dissenter was present, conformity decreased significantly.

Question 6

What happened to conformity when one confederate gave the correct answer in Asch’s variation?

Answer 6

Conformity decreased to 5.5% when one confederate always gave the correct answer, as the presence of a dissenter reduced the pressure to conform.

Question 7

How did the presence of a dissenter who gave a different wrong answer affect conformity?

Answer 7

The presence of a dissenter who gave a different wrong answer reduced conformity to 9%, showing that disagreement within the majority also decreased conformity.

Question 8

What was the impact of task difficulty on conformity in Asch’s study?

Answer 8

Asch found that when the task was made more difficult, conformity increased. This is because participants were more likely to look to others for guidance, indicating the role of informational social influence (ISI).

Question 9

What was the conformity rate when the task was made more difficult in Asch’s study?

Answer 9

When the task was made more difficult, conformity increased as participants relied more on the majority for guidance.

Question 10

What was the impact of group size on conformity?

Answer 10

Group size increased conformity, but only up to a group size of three. Beyond this, the effect plateaued, suggesting that a larger majority doesn’t necessarily result in greater conformity.

Question 11

How does the concept of task difficulty relate to conformity?

Answer 11

When the task is more difficult, people are more likely to conform due to uncertainty, seeking guidance from others, which is an example of informational social influence (ISI).

Question 12

What did Asch’s research show about unanimity and conformity?

Answer 12

Asch’s research showed that when the majority is unanimous, conformity is highest. However, if there is even one dissenter, conformity decreases significantly.

Question 12

What is the conclusion from Asch’s study about the role of group size, unanimity, and task difficulty in conformity?

Answer 12

Asch concluded that group size, unanimity, and task difficulty all affect conformity. Group size increases conformity up to a point, unanimity reduces conformity, and task difficulty increases conformity due to the influence of informational social influence.

Question 12

What does the research say about the effect of group size on conformity?

Answer 12

Research suggests that conformity increases with group size, but the effect levels off after a group of three. This indicates that a majority larger than three does not significantly influence conformity.

Question 13

How does Asch’s research show the effect of conformity in a real-life setting?

Answer 13

Asch’s task of identifying lines is an artificial and trivial task, so the findings may not apply directly to real-life situations where conformity may have more significant consequences.

Question 14

What was a strength of Asch’s research?

Answer 14

A strength of Asch’s research is that he used the experimental method, allowing for high control over extraneous variables, which increases internal validity.

Question 15

What were some limitations of Asch’s study in terms of external validity?

Answer 15

Asch’s study had low external validity because it used a limited sample (American male students), and the task was artificial, so the results may not generalize to real-life situations or other cultures.

Question 16

How does cultural bias apply to Asch’s study?

Answer 16

Asch’s study is culturally biased because it focused on American participants from an individualistic culture. Research in collectivist cultures has shown higher levels of conformity, suggesting that Asch’s findings may not apply universally.

Question 17

What is the ethical issue in Asch’s study?

Answer 17

A key ethical issue in Asch’s study is that participants were deceived about the true nature of the experiment and were not fully informed, which goes against ethical guidelines.

Question 18

What is the historical bias in Asch’s study?

Answer 18

Asch’s study may be historically biased because it was conducted during the 1950s, a period in America when fear of communism (McCarthyism) increased conformity. This limits the generalizability of the findings to other time periods.

Question 19

How do individual differences affect conformity, according to research?

Answer 19

Research by Lucas et al. (2006) shows that individual factors, such as confidence in one’s abilities, can affect conformity. Participants with higher confidence were less likely to conform, even in difficult tasks.

Question 20

How does Asch’s study reflect the nomothetic approach in psychology?

Answer 20

Asch’s study is an example of the nomothetic approach, as it seeks to establish universal laws about conformity that can be generalized across populations.