Asch and Zimbardo Flashcards
Asch aim
investigae whether people would conform to majority influence on an unambiguous task
how many participants vs confederates in Asch?
1 participant, 6-8 confederates
what gender and rce were ASch’s participants?
white males
what were the criticals and what proportion of trials were critical in Asch’s study
where C’s gave wrong answer
12/18 of trials were critical
what were the participants wshown and asked to do in Asch’s study?
- shown 3 lines labelled A, B, C
- shown comparison line
- aasked which line (A, B or C) is the same
- gave answers in turn, with P always last or next to last
what was the error rate in control trials of Asch, where C’s gave correct answer
0.7%
what was the error rate in critical trials of Asch?
32%
what % of Ps conformed at least once in Asch?
74%
what 3 reasons why conformed, were given by participants of Asch in post experiment interview
- didn’t want to ruin experiment
- thought their eyes had decieved them
- didn’t want to be ridiculed by group and feel like an outsider
what did Asch conclude?
even when correct answer is obvious, the need to fit in can cause participants to give same answer as confederates, on many occassions, altough majority of Ps still gave correct answer
Asch evaluation phrase
eco populations time ethical demands
why does Asch’s study lack population validity? (2 things)
- only males so assumes females would behave the same way despite not being studied therefore beta biased, genderbiased and androcentric
- only white americans so cultured biased and ethnocentric as different cultures have different rates of conformity
why were the ethics of Asch criticised?
participants misled so couldn’t give fully informed consent
however if true aims know, a true measure of conformity would not have been obtained
three variables affecting conformity (Asch)
- group size
- unanimity
- taskdifficulty
how did Asch investigate group size?
- varied number of Cs 1-15
- when majority only 2, conformity decreased to 12.8%
- increasing size of majority increased rate of conformity but this plteaued at around 32% at just 3 Cs
- suggests people are very sensitive to others’ views as 1-2 enough to sway P’s opinions
how did Asch investigate unanimity?
- had 1 C disagree with others, giving another wrong answer or teh correct answer
- Ps conformed less often, going down to 5%
- suggests majority influence depends much on unanimity of group and that nonconformity more likely when not unanimous
How did Asch investigate task difficulty?
- increased difficulty by making lines more similar
- conformity increased
- maybe more ambiguous when harder so more natural to look to others and assumer they’re correct
- conformity increases as task difficulty increases as look to others for answer
aim of Zimbardo
- investigte how readily people conform to their expectations of social roles
- whether brutality among US guards due to sadistic personalities or prison environment
how many were participants and what type of people were they, in Zimbardo?
- 21, well adjusted, healthy male students who volunteered
how much were Ps payed in Zimbardo
15 dollars per day
how were Ps assigned and to what role, in Zimbardo’s study?
randomy allocated to role of guard or prisoner
how many Ps were prisoners in Zimbardo’s study?
9
what happened to the prisoners when they were arrested in Zimbardo’s study?
- taken blindfolded to ‘prison’ (Stanford basement)
- stripped, disinfected, given smocks and a prison number
guard uniform in Zimbardo’s study
- uniform
- dark glasses
- had batons
what were guards allowed and not allowed to do in Zimbardo’s study?
- allowed to make most rule
- no physical aggression
what did the uniforms, glasses and prison numbers do to the participants in Zimbardo’s study?
created a loss of personal identity (deindividuation)
what happened 1, 2, 4 and 6 days after Zimbardo’s study started?
- 1 - 1 person left
- 2 - prisoners rebelled
- 4 - 2 more people leave
- 6 - study stopped prematurely
when was Zimbardo’s study supposed to end?
after 14 days
how did the guards conform to their role in Zimbardo’s study?
- harrassed prisoners
- forced them to do humiliating things
2 conclusions from Zimbardo’s study
- ‘prison enviroment’ is an important factor in causing guards brutal behaviour
- people readily conform to social roles they’re expected to play and these roles shape their attitudes and behaviours
Zimbardo evaluation phrase
controlling realistic conversations about exaggerated ethics
How was Zimbardo’s study controlled?
control over key variables:
* slection of P’ - emotionally stable
* randomly assigned to role - rul out personality differences that may have affected to results, increasing internal validity
why is there a criticism for lack of realism of Zimbardo’s study?
- argues P’s just play acting based on stereotypes, not actually conforming - 1 guard said based hs role on a brutal film character
- explains riot as thought what real prisoners did
- suggests findings don’t tell much about conformity to social roles in actual proisons
what however point is there against the lack of realism point in Zimbardo’s study?
- 90% of prisoner’s conversations were about prison life
- suggests situation felt real to prisoners, increasing internal valildity
- 1 prisoner later said he thought the prison was real, just run by psychologists not the govt.
what suggests Zimbardo may have exaggerated the power of social roles to influencing behaviour?
- only 1/3 guards were actually brutal
- 1/3 wanted to apply rules fairly
- 1/3 tried to help prisoners, sympathisising, offering cigarettes and reinstating priviledges
- suggests Z overstated Ps conformity to social roles and minimised the influence of dispositional factors
ethical criticisms of Zimbardo’s study
- hmiliation and distress
- mde worse as Z seemed to lose sight of harm being done as played role of chief superintendent
- however, became aware of issues and stopped study early
