Asch

Question 1

Sample

Answer 1

123 Male American ppts

Question 2

Findings

Answer 2

• 36.8% conformed
  -25% didn’t conformed
• 75% conformed at least once

Question 3

Limitations

Answer 3

Lacks temporal validity
- McCarthyism- Time period where ppl would get punished if they didn’t conform

Low ecological validity
- used an artificial test to test conformity doesn’t acknowledge real life instances

Lacks population validity
- Used on men doesn’t generalise to other populations

Ethical issues
- deception
- however Asch had to deceive otherwise demand characteristics could occur

Question 4

Strengths

Answer 4

Lab experiment
- high external validity as the variables were controlled

Question 5

method

Answer 5

• 3 lines and one standard line
• ppts had to say which one of the lines were the most similar to the standard line
• Group of 6 ( 5 confederates )
• 12/18 critical trials confederates gave the wrong answer
• Naive ppt always answered lasty

Question 6

Task difficulty

Answer 6

• Asch made the task more difficult by making the length’s similar
• This increased conformity
• ISI

Question 7

Group size

Answer 7

3 confederates giving the wrong answer made conformity rise to 31.8%
-increase in group size increases conformity

Question 8

Unanimity

Answer 8

• When the NP had a confederate who also disagreed with the majority and gave the right answer this led to a decrease in conformity