Asch's Research Flashcards
Which significant piece of research was conducted in 1951?
Asch’s conformity research?
What was the procedure for asch’s study?
123 male participants grouped with 6-8 confederates were shown a standard line and three stimulus lines they were then asked to judge which of the three stimulus lines was the same length as the original. Of the 18 trials conducted 12 were critical trials. (The real participant was always last or penultimate)
What were the findings from asch’s study?
The participants conformed to give the wrong answer 36.8% of the time this showed high conformity and became known as the Asch effect
Some participants never conformed - 25% - showed significant independence
Interviews after the event showed normative social influence and compliance caused the conformity
What significant piece of research was conducted in 1955?
Asch’s second study this time into the variables affecting conformity
What three variables did asch investigate in his second study?
The effect of group size
The effect of a dissenting confederate
The effect of the task difficulty
How did asch investigate the effect of group size and what were his findings?
Has carried out a variation of his initial study this time varying the group size between 1 and 15 confederates he found there was no effect with one confederate and the full effect with three confederates adding more confederates beyond the third made no difference to conformity
How did asch investigate the effect of unanimity on conformity and what were his findings?
Asch carried out variation of a study in which a dissenting confederate was sometimes introduced he found that the level of conformity on average fell to 25% when a dissenting confederate was introduced
How did asch investigate the effects of task difficulty and what were his findings?
Asch carried out a variation of a study in which task difficulty was changed by altering the similarity between the lengths of the lines he found the other task difficulty increased conformity also increased due to informational social influence
What are the evaluation points for asch’s study into conformity?
Asch’s baseline study was conducted in artificial situation
Asch’s study was conducted on students reducing the generalisability
Asch’s studies have some ethical issues due to the deception involved
Asch’s study may only apply to some situations in which those present are strangers and you are required to give a verbal answer
