Asch Flashcards
Why can the study be placed in a historical context?
Many studies on social pressure were carried out after WW2 because psychologists were keen to prevent events like the holocaust from happening again. They felt it had happened because of social pressure and they wanted to fit in with the crowd.
What was the aims of the study?
To find out if people tend to conform to the view of the majority and now down to group pressure
To investigate this in an unambiguous situation where the answers were clear
How can Asch’s study be placed in an academic context?
Previous research, sherif 1936, involves pps judging how far a light had moved in the dark (which was actually still), a few days later they were put into groups of 3 and reached a common estimate of how far it had moved. Also Jenness, beans in a jar, involved looking at conformity in ambiguous situations (correct answer not obvious). Asch saw this as a problem so wanted to see if people would conform when they clearly saw the correct answer.
What was Asch’s research?
An observation carried out under controlled conditions.
How many true pps were there?
123
What did the sample consist of?
All male from 3 us colleges
How many confederates were in the room?
7-9 (1 true pps)
Where was the true pp sat?
Second last in the row so they could hear other peoples answers
There was 1 standard line and how many other separate lines?
3 approx 2cm difference
How many trials were there?
18
How many critical trials were there?
12
What variations did Asch introduce?
1) varied group size from 1-15
2) allowed one confederate to answer truthfully
3) pp who have wrong answer but was different to other confederates
How did Asch see why they had conformed?
Through interviewing them afterwards
How did he address some ethical issues?
By debriefing his pps and explaining the true purpose of his research
