Asch (1951)

Question 1

Asch designed an experiment to see whether

Answer 1

people would conform to a majorities incorrect answer in an unambiguous task where the correct answer is obvious

Question 2

Asch study name

Answer 2

conformity to an unambiguous task

Question 3

Asch date

Answer 3

1951

Question 4

Method: what was the study?

Answer 4

a laboratory study with an independent groups design

Question 5

Method: how large were the groups?

Answer 5

8 participants

Question 6

Method: what did the participants judge?

Answer 6

line lengths

Question 7

Method: how many real participants were in each group?

Answer 7

one, the rest were confederates

Question 8

Method: the real participant always

Answer 8

either last or second to last so they could always hear the confederates answers

Question 9

Method: each participant did

Answer 9

18 trials

Question 10

Method: how many of the trials did all the confederates give the wrong answer? (the critical trials)

Answer 10

12

Question 11

Results: in the control trials, participants gave the wrong answer

Answer 11

0.7% of the time

Question 12

Results: in the critical trials

Answer 12

participants conformed to the majority 37% of the time

Question 13

Results: what percentage conformed at least once?

Answer 13

75%

Question 14

Results: afterwards, some participants said

Answer 14

they didn’t actually believe their answers but they didn’t want to be different

Question 15

Conclusion: the control condition showed that

Answer 15

the task was easy to get right

Question 16

Conclusion: what percentage were wrong on the critical trials?

Answer 16

37%

Question 17

Evaluation: the study was a

Answer 17

laboratory experiment

Question 18

Evaluation: because the study was a laboratory experiment, this means there was good control over the

Answer 18

variables

Question 19

Evaluation: the strict variable control means there will be little effect by

Answer 19

extraneous variables

Question 20

Evaluation: strict control also means it would be easy to

Answer 20

replicate the study

Question 21

Evaluation: because the study wasn’t a natural situation, the study lacks

Answer 21

ecological validity

Question 22

Evaluation: Ethics

Answer 22

the participants were deceived and might have been embarrassed if they thought they were wrong