Asch (1951)

Question 1

what was the aim of aschs study

Answer 1

to investigate the extent of which social pressure from a majority group could affect a person to conform

Question 2

what was the method of asch’s study

Answer 2

lab setting

Question 3

participants

Answer 3

50 white american males

Question 4

procedure

Answer 4

asch put a naive participant in a room with 7 confederates, each person had to state aloud which comparison line was most like the original line, the answer was always obvious, the real participant answered last and the confederates answered wrong

Question 5

findings

Answer 5

over the 18 trials 75% of participants conformed at least once

Question 6

evaluation and analysis - 1

Answer 6

the study was a powerful demonstration of how a group can influence our behaviour- even a group of strangers can make people respond differently to if they were alone

Question 7

evaluation and analysis- 2

Answer 7

the study highlighted how people conform in particular circumstances such as answering aloud infront of strangers

Question 8

evaluation and analysis- 3

Answer 8

all participants were male students who were the same age and also all american

Question 9

evaluation and analysis- 4

Answer 9

the experiment lacked ecological validity as it was conducted in an artificial lab setting

Question 10

evaluation and analysis- 5

Answer 10

it lacked mundane realism as tasks in real life where we conform are not as obvious as judging the length of a line

Question 11

evaluation and analysis- 6

Answer 11

there was ethical issues as the participants were not protected from phycological stress