Asch's Research Flashcards
What was the aim of the study?
To investigate whether people will conform to majority influence in an unambiguous situation
What was the method of the study? (Procedure)
It was set in a laboratory but was not an experiment as there is on IV or DV, this makes it an controlled laboratory observation
What was the sample? (Procedure)
123, American, male, student volunteers
What was the task they had to do? (Procedure)
The participants had to say which of the lines (A,B or C) was the same as the stimulus (X).
Everybody apart from he 6th person was a confederate and were told to give the wrong answer 12/18 times
How many trials did each participant complete?
18
How many of these were critical?
12
How many people never agreed with the other participants?
25%
How many agreed to at least one wrong answer?
75%
How many naive participants gave a wrong answer?
36.8%
What did most people say in the interviews after?
They said that they agreed as to avoid feeling the rejection for answering different
What was the conclusion of the study?
Even when a situation is unambiguous people will still conform to a majority. This demonstrates the power of normative social influence
One weakness of the study.
Participants did not fully know what they were consenting for as they were deceived. This meant they could not make an informed decision of if they wanted to be in the study.
One strength of the study.
The study used standardised procedures, which makes the study more reliable as it is easy to replicate
