Asch Flashcards

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1
Q

What did Asch aim to do?

A

find out if people tend to conform to the majority

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2
Q

Did Asch want to find this out in an unambiguous situation?

A

Yes - answers always clear

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3
Q

How can Asch’s study be placed in a historical context?

A

Psychologists keen to prevent events like Holocaust from happening again. they thought these events were happening due to social pressure and conformity

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4
Q

How can Asch’s study be placed in an academic context?

A

Sherif (1936) got pps to judge how far a light had moved. Few days later they got into small groups and judged again. 3 pps reached a common estimate

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5
Q

How else can Asch’s study be placed in an academic context?

A

Sherif and Jeness got pps to estimate no. of beans in a jar. They did this in an ambiguous situation, but Asch saw this as a problem

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6
Q

What was Asch’s research method?

A

Observation under controlled conditions

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7
Q

How many pps were there?

A

123 “true” pps

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8
Q

Were the pps male or female?

A

Male

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9
Q

Where were the pps from?

A

3 USA colleges

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10
Q

How many confederates were in a group with 1 true pp?

A

7-9

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11
Q

Where were the true pp sat?

A

Second to last

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12
Q

What were the pps shown and what did they have to do?

A

a standard line and 3 separate lines

They had to match one of the 3 lines with the standard line

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13
Q

How many trials were there for each group?

A

18

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14
Q

How many “critical” trials were there for each group?

A

12

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15
Q

What was the condition called when confederates made accurate judgements?

A

control condition

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16
Q

What were the 3 variations Asch made?

A

1) group size varied (1-15)
2) allowed one confederate to answer truthfully
3) a pp who gave wrong, but different to other confedereates

17
Q

What was used to see why pps conformed?

A

An interview

18
Q

How did Asch address some ethical issues?

A

By debriefing his pps

19
Q

What % of pps conformed to the incorrect answer in the “critical” trials?

A

37%

20
Q

What % of the pps conformed at least once?

A

75%

21
Q

What % of the pps never conformed?

A

25%

22
Q

What % of pps always conformed?

A

5%

23
Q

What % of pps made mistakes in the control condition when confederates never gave wrong answers?

A

1%

24
Q

How confederates were there in a group when pps never conformed?

A

1

25
Q

What was the group size when conformity stopped?

A

3

26
Q

What did Asch also find when pps had an ally?

A

Conformity declined

27
Q

What were the 3 things that pps reported?

A

1) they conformed because they didnt want to spoil the results
2) they conformed because they thought their answers were wrong
3) they didn’t conform because they were confident in their answers

28
Q

What makes some people conform?

A

Social pressure

29
Q

What did Asch conclude from this observation?

A

Some people can resist social pressure and remain independant

30
Q

If the majority isn’t unanimous, what happens to conformity?

A

It declines

31
Q

What’s a huge concern in society?

A

The tendency to conform

32
Q

Was reliability a strength for Asch?

A

Yes - conditions were controlled & could be repeated

33
Q

Was validity a strength for Asch?

A

No - artificial conditions & didn’t reflect real life

34
Q

Why was Asch’s sample strong?

A

Large number of pps

35
Q

Why was Asch’s sample weak?

A

All male, student volunteers and came from one social group - cannot generalise

36
Q

What data was produced from Asch’s study?

A

Both - Quantitative: enables comparisons

Qualitative: depth

37
Q

Why was Asch’s study problematic in terms of ethics?

A

“True” pps didnt give fully informed consent & were distressed so werent protected from harm