Asch Flashcards
AO1 study
Aim was how group pressure affects conformity to group tasks with an obvious answer. 8 students were arranged around a table however only of them was a real participant and the other 7 were confederates. The teacher would draw three lines on the board and the students has to say which line matched a different line. The students answered aloud in turn, and the confederates were told to give the same incorrect answer. The real participant was placed second to last so he could hear what the others were saying
Ao3 variables
Task was done with different variables. Increases validity of findings
Research support from Lucas et al (task difficulty) (increases reliability and credibility)
Ao3 environment
Laboratory setting creates artificial environment (lacks ecological validity) study could be criticised due to the “low stakes” and lack of consequences. BUT lab setting means it is easy to replicate so you can check and confirm findings.
Ao3 generalisability
Study lacks generalisability due to demographics of participants used- all white males, similar age, American, similar socio-economic backgrounds. Limits application to target audience. Could also mean people in experiment knew each other so could decrease validity cause could change answers cause they know the people.
AO1 results
75% of participants conformed at least once. In control group when Asch had one participant do the test with no confederates less than 1% of the participants gave an incorrect answer. Group size: curvilinear relationship between group size and conformity. Conformity increased with group size but only up to a point. Unanimity: non conforming confederate made the participant conform less often even if the confederate didn’t agree with participant. Task difficulty: increased task difficulty (lines same length) increased conformity.