Asch conformity (AO3)

Question 1

Limitation 1:

Answer 1

Task was artificial and trivial, participants had no reason not to conform, participants knew they were being studied and had demand characteristics, Fiske (2014) argued the group wasn’t very life-like, [this means the results cannot be generalized]

Question 2

Limitation 2:

Answer 2

[Only American men were used] - Neto argued that women might be more conformist as they care more about their social relations. Also the US is an individualist culture, whereas countries like China are more collectivist and may conform more. [This means the results cannot be applied to people outside American men]

Question 3

Strength 1:

Answer 3

[Supporting evidence] - Lucas et al (2006) study (see next flash card), [this shows task difficulty is one thing affecting conformity]

Question 4

Lucas et al (2006)

Answer 4

Asked participants to solve maths equations (easy and hard) then were given 3 false answers claimed to have been from other students. The participants conformed more often (agreed with the wrong answer) when the question was difficult. [This shows that Asch was right in saying task difficulty was a factor]

Question 5

Counterpoint to strength 1:

Answer 5

Lucas et al’s study shows that conformity is linked to confidence [this shows that individual factors affect situational ones, but Asch did not investigate individual ones]

Question 6

Evaluation extra: Ethical issues

Answer 6

Participants were deceived and cannot give their informed consent, however the research was justified and the stress was minimal