Asch’s Study Ao3

Question 1

Limitation - uneconomical and time consuming

Answer 1

P - not practical, only one naive patient tested at one time
E - CRUTCHFIELD - tested participants in separate booths, each booth had a panel of lights which supposedly showed other participants answer - tested several participants at once
E - original study can’t get results as quickly, not efficient, and there are alternatives

Question 2

Strength - task difficulty

Answer 2

P - asch looked at factors which effect conformity (task difficulty)
E - in another experiment, asch made comparison lines more difficult (similar) making tasks more ambiguous and consequently more difficult - this therefore made naive participants conform because they may have not known the answer
E - shows factors made differences which increases conformity

Question 3

Limitation lack temporal validity

Answer 3

P - original, study conducted in 1950 is that it lacked temporal validity (findings not consistent across time)
E - this is because when the study was replicated in 1980 with engineering students, only one student confirmed across 369 trials
E - this could also link to cross culture, people in western cultures are less likely to conform than people in non western country’s
E - weakness because asch study is not consistent across situations & time so cannot be considered a fundamental feature of humans behaviour