Asch's Study Flashcards
what did Asch study
variables affecting conformity
who were the participants in Asch’s orginal study
123 american male student volunteers
what problems are their based on the methodology of Asch’s orginal study
population validity - all american male students
social desirability - all volunteers
deception - participants were told they were being studied on perception not conformity
gender and culture bias
temporal validity (McCarthyism)
what was the procedure of Asch’s original study
groups of 6-8 confederates, 1 participant
18 trials
compared line (A,B,C) to stimulus line (X)
participant answered last/second to last
12/18 trials, confederates answered wrong
how many trials were there in Asch’s original study
18
what instructions were the participants given in Asch’s original study
told to say aloud which line (A, B or C) was most like the stimulus line (X)
what was the group structure in Asch’s original study
6-8 confederates, 1 participant who always answered last/second to last
in how many trials of Asch’s original study did the confederates give the wrong answer
12/18
who formed the control group in Asch’s original study
36 participants
what procedure did the control group go through in Asch’s original study
were individually tested on 20 trials to test how accurate individual judgements were
name each finding of Asch’s original study
- control group = 3/720 mistakes
- 33% conformity rate to wrong answers
- 75% of p’s conformed at least once
- 5% of p’s conformed to every wrong answer
in the control group, how many mistakes did they make in Asch’s original study
3 mistakes out of 720 trials, showing how obvious correct answer is
on the 12 critical trials, what was the conformity rate to wrong answers in Asch’s original study
33%
what % of participants in Asch’s original study conformed at least one
75%
what % of participants in Asch’s original study conformed every time
5%
what are the two conclusions from Asch’s original study
- individual judgements are affected by the majority’s opinion
- there are variations in the amount people are affected by majority influence depending on normative social influence
what is a situational variable
qualities of the environment that influence levels of conformity
in which three ways did Asch manipulate his original study
- group size
- unanimity of the group
- task difficulty
what did Asch do to his original study to study the effect of group size
increased the number of confederates from 1-15
what were the findings of Asch’s variation of group size
3 confederates - conformity 31%
7 confederates - conformity 36%
conformity remained the same after that
what did Asch do to his original study to study the effect of unanimity of the group
introduced a non-conforming confederate, either giving the correct answer or another wrong answer - therefore provided social support
what were the findings of Asch’s variation of unanimity of the group
conformity droppped from 33% to between 5 and 9%
what did Asch do to his original study to study the effect of task difficulty
made the task more difficult by decreasing the difference between the lines
what were the findings of Asch’s variation of task difficulty
increased the rate of conformity, as the task becomes more ambiguous people tend to look for others for guidance (informational social influence)
