ASCH Flashcards
what was Asch’s procedure when investigating conformity?
123 males were tested within a group of 6-8 confederates in each group, and one naive participant. Asch showed participants 2 cards with lines of similar length, and asked them to compare lengths. (The answer was very obvious.)
What were the findings of Aschs procedure?
The naive participant conformed to the wrong answer 36.8% of the time. 75% conformed at least once. They said they conformed to avoid social rejection (NSI)
What were the 3 variables in Aschs procedure?
- Group size
- Unanimity
- Task difficulty
What happened when Asch increased group size?
*He varied the confederates from 1-15.
*With 3 confenderates. conformity rose to 31.8%, and then any more did not make a difference.
What happened when Asch increased task difficulty?
Conformity increased
-this suggests that ISI plays a role in conformity when things are more ambigous, as the naive participant looked to the group for guidance for the correct answer.
what happened when Asch increased the Unanimity?
Conformity decreased by 25% with the presence of a dissenter.
-as they disagreed with the majority, it gave the naive participant social support and enabled them to behave more independantly
How was temporal validity an issue in Asch’s research?
*Experiment conduced in 1950, where the social norm was to conform.
THIS SUGGESTS THAT
*The findings to conformity may only apply to that era, and we may not see the same level of conformity nowadays
How was Mundane realism an issue in Aschs research?
*Artificial tasks, artificial situations
THIS SUGGESTS THAT..
*They may have conformed to the variables in an artificial task, but not a task that was more realistic
How was Demand Characteristics an issue in Aschs research?
They knew they were in a research study, leading to demand characteristics.
THIS SUGGESTS THAT..
*They may have done either the ‘please you’ effect and went along with the situation, or the ‘Screw you’ effect where they try to conform less.
THIS IS A WEAKNESS AS..
The D.C’s may act as a confounding variable in the study, decreasing internal validity, making it unsure that we are measuring conformity
How was only male participants an issue in Aschs research?
This makes the experiment Androcentric.
THIS SUGGESTS THAT..
*The findings cannot be applicable to women, creating a beta bias, minimising the differences between genders. Misrepresenting women, making all conclusions only applicable to males
How was only american participants an issue in Aschs research?
The USA is an individualistic culture, and the results cannot be assumed for other countrys, e.g. China.
THIS MEANS THAT..
It misrepresents collectivist cultures, it is culture biased and if generalised this becomes an imposed etic. Also a beta bias as we would be minimising the differences between cultures.
