asch and zimbardo

Question 1

Jenness 1932 method

Answer 1

• used an ambiguous situation that involved a glass bottle filled with 811 white beans and asked 101 psychology students who individually estimated how many beans glass jar contained
• participants then divided into groups of three and asked to provide a group estimate through discussion.
• following the discussion participants were then given another opportunity to individually estimate the number of beans to see if it changed.

Question 2

Jenness 1932 findings

Answer 2

• nearly all participants changed their original answer when provided the opportunity
• male on average 256 and female 382
• demonstrative power of conformity likely to be informational social influence
• believed majority more likely to be right than themselves

Question 3

Asch 1956 aim

Answer 3

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

Question 4

Asch line 1956 procedure

Answer 4

• 123 male us undergraduates were tested. seated around table and asked to look at three lines of equal length. took turns to call out which of the three lines they thought was the same length as the standard line with the real participant always answering second to last.
• in 12 of the 18 trials .i.e the critical trials, the confederates were instructed to give the same incorrect answer. Asch was interested in if the real participants would stick to what they believed to be right or give in to pressure of majority

Question 5

Asch lines 1956 findings

Answer 5

• on 12 critical, the average conformity rate was 33% participants agreed with incorrect response
• 1/4 never conformed
• 3/4 conformed at least once
• 1 in 20 conformed every time
• to confirm stimulus lines were indeed unambiguous. Asch conducted a control condition without the distraction of confederates giving wrong answers.in this condition found participant made mistakes about 1% of the time, yet still could not explain relatively levels of conformity in the main study.
• when interviewed afterwards, he discovered majority of participants who conformed had continued privately to trust their own perceptions and judgments, but changed their public behavior, giving incorrect answers to avoid disapproval from other group members (compliance)

Question 6

variables affecting conformity

Answer 6

• group size
• unanimity of the majority
• difficulty of the task

Question 7

group size

Answer 7

little conformity when majority consisted of just one or two confederates. however, under the influence of three, the proportion of the conformity responses jumped up to around 30%. further increase in group size did not increase this level of conformity substantially, showing important but only to a point. –Campbell and Farrell 1989 suggests it depends on type of judgment being made and motivation of the individual, when no objectively correct answer and concerned about fitting in, more likely to be swayed.
-brown and bryce 1997 suggested participant might suspect collusionover group size of 4/5

Question 8

unanimity of the majority

Answer 8

confederates unanimously gave same wrong answer. when real participant given support, conformity dropped reducing % of wrong from 33% to 5.5%. if one lone gave the third option instead, conformity dropped to 9%.Asch conclude breaking groups unanimous position was the major factor.

Question 9

the difficulty of the task

Answer 9

in one variation, Asch made differences between line lengths much smaller so less obvious answer and under these circumstances, conformity increased. Lucas at el 2006 found that influence of task difficulty is moderated by the self efficiency of the individual.
exposed to math’s problems in an Asch style task high self efficiency i.e. confident in own abilities, remained more independent than low self efficiency participants even under conditions of high task difficulty. shows situational differences and individual differences both important.

Question 10

Asch evaluation

Answer 10

+lab study- control extraneous variables (can link to ecological validity)
+shows conformity- 75% conform at least once
-lacks ecological validity so therefore people may not care if get right or wrong
- study was only carried out on men thus the sample was gender bias and therefore the results cannot be applied to females. The sample therefore lacks population validity.123
-as psychologists more likely to pick up on demand characteristics, especially if unconvincing confederates 1756 trials- not be same consistency each time
- permin and spencer 1980 carries out same study years later with engineering students and only 1 study conformed in a total of 396 trials.

Question 11

Zimbardo’s aim

Answer 11

investigate how readily people would conform to the social roles of guard and prisoner in a role-playing exercise that simulated prison life.

Question 12

Zimbardo’s procedure

Answer 12

• advertised to male psychology students to play the role of prisoners and guards for a fortnight. Randomly assigned role by the flip of a coin.
• prisoners issued their uniform and referred to by number only. guards worked shifts of 8 hours.
• Zimbardo observed as a researcher and also played the role of a prison warden.

Question 13

Zimbardo’s findings

Answer 13

• At start guards did not have much influence, then as settles into roles, the guards became stricter and began to punish for no reason. became sadistic.
• prisoners- attempted a ‘rebellion’ early on but after it was crushed they became submissive and unquestioning of the guards’ behavior (some even sided with the guards against any prisoner who protested, such as in 416 case where wouldn’t eat sausages. Prisoners even began to refer to themselves and each other by their prison number (showing deindividuation).
• After 36 hours, one prisoner 8612 was released because of fits of crying and rage. 3 more prisoners developed similar behaviors and were released soon after. A 5th prisoner with a rash as denied parole.
• study stopped after 6 days as causing harm.

Question 14

Zimbardo- things that happened before the study

Answer 14

• The researchers held an orientation session for the guards the day before the experiment, during which guards were instructed not to harm the prisoners physically or withhold food or drink.
• also psychological and physically tested and picked 24 most stable without any criminal background

Question 15

day one Zimbardo’s study

Answer 15

• The prisoners were “arrested” at their homes and “charged” with armed robbery. The local Palo Alto police department assisted Zimbardo with the simulated arrests and conducted full booking procedures on the prisoners, which included fingerprinting and taking mug shots. The prisoners were transported to the mock prison from the police station, where they were strip searched and given their new identities
• at first did not conform to social roles. they considered getting rid of the experiment as not going way planned

Question 16

day two Zimbardo’s study

Answer 16

• the prisoners in Cell 1 blockaded their cell door with their beds and took off their stocking caps, refusing to come out or follow the guards’ instructions. Guards from other shifts volunteered to work extra hours, to assist in subduing the revolt, and subsequently attacked the prisoners with fire extinguishers without being supervised by the research staff. Finding that handling nine cell mates with only three guards per shift was challenging, one of the guards suggested they use psychological tactics to control them. They set up a “privilege cell” in which prisoners who were not involved in the riot were treated with special rewards, such as higher quality meals. The “privileged” inmates chose not to eat the meal in commiseration with their fellow prisoners.
• 8162 began to go crazy

Question 17

day four

Answer 17

-On the fourth day, some of the guards stated they heard a rumor that the released prisoner was going to come back with his friends and free the remaining inmates. Zimbardo and the guards disassembled the prison and moved it onto a different floor of the building. Zimbardo himself waited in the basement, in case the released prisoner showed up, and planned to tell him that the experiment had been terminated. The released prisoner never returned, and the prison was rebuilt in the basement.

Question 18

day 6

Answer 18

Christina Maslach, a graduate student in psychology whom he was dating objected to the conditions of the prison after she was introduced to the experiment to conduct interviews. experiment discontinued.

Question 19

evaluation: conformity to roles is not automatic

Answer 19

Zimbardo believed that the guards drift into sadistic behavior was a n automatic consequence of them embracing their role, suppressed their ability to gauge what they was doing was wrong. however, guard behavior varied from being fully sadistic to some being “good guards” who did not degrade the prisoners and even did small favors.
- Haslam and Reicher 2012 argue that this shows guards chose how to behave rather than blindly conforming to their social role.

Question 20

Criticism of Zimbardo’s study: problem of demand characteristics.

Answer 20

Banuazis and Movavedi (1975) argued behavior of prisoners and guards due to powerful demand characteristics. in the experiment situation itself. proposed some of the details of the SPE experiment procedure to a large sample of students who had never heard of the study. the vast majority correctly guessed that the purpose of the investigation was to see if people reacted like in a real lie situation.