Asch Flashcards
what are some strengths fo Asch’s research
- provides research support for normative social influence
- research support for task difficulty as a variable increasing conformity
what research supports Asch’s idea that task difficulty increases conformity
Lucas et al
what did Lucas et al find
found that when participants were given harder maths problem they were more likely to conform and agree with the wrong answers of other participants
what does Lucas et al research show
shows Asch was correct and task difficulty does increase conformity rates as the harder the task the more people look to others for guidance
how does Asch’s research provide support for normative social influence
when participants were asked why they went along with the obvious incorrect answers, they said they were scared of being ridiculed, showing they conformed to fit in the majority and avoid social rejection
what are some limitations of Asch’s research
- ethical issues
- lack of real world application
- low generalisability
how did Asch break ethical guidelines
- participants were deceived as they were told they were taking part in a vision test not a study on conformity so they also unable to give fully informed consent
- many reported feeling stressed when they did not go along with the majority’s answers so not protected from harm
why does Asch’s study lack real world applications
- the task was artificial and lacked mundane realism
- so did not reflect everyday life and real examples fo conformity
- cannot conclude that people would react the same in settings beyond the lab settings
why does Asch’s study have a low generalisability
- biased sample of only 123 males so results cannot be generalised to females, they could conform more as they are thought to be more concerned about social relationships and being accepted
- American participants so results only accurate for an individualist culture and cannot be generalised to a collectivist culture
