asch’s baseline study

Question 1

procedure

Answer 1

standard and comparison lines
123 american men
each pp saw two large white cards on each trial
the line x on the left-hand card is the standard line
lines A, B, C, are the three comparison lines
one of the comparison lines is always the same, other two are substantially different
on each trial pps had to say out loud which comparison line was the same length as x

Question 2

physical arrangement of study

Answer 2

pps were tested in groups of 6 - 8
only one pp was genuine pp who was always seated last or second to last in group
other pps were asch’s confederates
they all gave the same incorrect scripted answer each time
naive/genuine pp did not know the others were ‘fake’ pps

Question 3

baseline findings

Answer 3

on av. genuine pps agreed with confederates’ incorrect answers 36.8%
with 3 confederates, conformity to wrong answer rose to 31.8%
conformity drops to 5% with a partner who goes against the group
pos correlation between task difficulty and conformity

Question 4

conclusions

Answer 4

informational social influence = the group is correct
normative social influence = to fit in with group
group size = NSI
conformity drops when unanimity is broken
task difficulty = ISI

Question 5

l - artificial situation and task

Answer 5

findings do not generalise to real world situations

Question 6

l - limited application

Answer 6

participants were american men - US is individualist - findings tell us little about conformity in women and other cultures

Question 7

c - limited application

Answer 7

shows an individual-level factor can influence conformity