Asch's Study Flashcards
What was the Aim of Asch’s Study?
[2]
- Wanted to see how social pressure from a majority could influence someone’s behaviour
- Tested conformity using ‘visual perception task’
How many people took part in Asch’ Study? Who were those people?
123 male students
What was the Procedure of Asch’s Study?
[5]
- 123 male students believed they were taking part in visual perception task
- Line judgement task - there was three standard lines and one comparison line
- He put real participiants with 6 other confeds. Real was always last or second last
- Each person had to say their answer out loud. Answer was obvious
- Critical trials
What was Findings of Asch’s Research?
[4]
- 36.8 % conformed
- 25% never conformed
- 75% conformed at least once
- In control only 1% was incorrect
What were conclusions of Asch’s Study?
[2]
- Individual judements are affected by majority influnce
- Participants conformed due to NSI and desire to avoid rejection
What were the three factors that Asch changed in conformity?
- Group Size
- Task Difficulty
- Unanimity
How did Unanimity affect Conformity in Asch’s Study?
[4]
- Would non-conforming confed influence real person
- When people less unanimous; confusion
- The real conformed less often in the presence of a non conforming confed
- Influence of majority; everyone unanimous
How did Group Size affect Conformity in Asch’s Study?
[4]
- Wanted to vary group size to see if larger group = more conformity (Corulinear relationship)
- With 3 confed + real, conformity rose to 31.8%
- After 3, more confed made little difference
- People can be easily influences
How did Task Difficulty affect Conformity in Asch’s Study?
[3]
- Does making task harder increase conformity
- When lines were very similiar; conformity increased
- Natural to look at other people when unsure
Lab experiment
What is a Strength of Asch’s Study?
(lab experiment)
[3]
- It’s a lab experiment
- Extraneous and confounding variables are strictly controlled, meaning replication is easy
- Successful replication increases reliablity
Supports NSI
What is a Strength of Asch’s Study?
(other studies support Asch’s research)
[5]
- One strength is support for Asch’s research from other studies one effect of task difficulty
- Lucas et al asked participants to solve ‘hard’ and ‘easy’ maths problems
- Participants given answers from 3 other students (not real)
- Participants conformed more often when problems were harder
- Supports Asch
Low ecological validity
What is a Limitation of Asch’s Study?
(all participants were American men)
[5]
- Asch’s participants were all American men
- Other research say women may be conformist, because their more concerned about social relationships and being accepted
- Also, USA is an individualist culture (people more concerned for themselves).
- Similiar studies done in China (more collectivist cultures found conformity rates higher
- Asch’s findings tell us little about conformity in women and people from other cultures
What is a Limitation of Asch’s Study?
[4]
- Ethical issues
- Deception - participants were tricked into thinking study was about perception not compliance
- Not informed consent
- Psychological harm after participants realised true aims of study