Asch variables affecting conformity Flashcards
who is the main research of variables affecting conformity?
Asch
who did Asch use in his sample?
123 male undergraduates who were individually put in a group of six with 5 confederates who though they was doing a vision test.
what was the procedure in Asch’s study?
real pp was always sat second to last / last whilst the confederates before him gave the same wrong answer to the line test.
what was the main finding to Asch’s study?
75% conformed at least once.
what are three effecting factors of conformity in Asch’s study?
size of sample, unity in answers and difficulty of question.
how does sample size affect conformity?
the larger the group the more the real pp is likely to conform. Asch found that conformity rose by 30% when sample size was more than 30 people. this is because the more people that are saying the wrong answer the more the real pp thinks they are correct.
how does unity of the majority effect conformity?
the more people saying the same answer the more likely individual is to conform. however Asch found that if one other person gives the correct answer conformity of the real pp drops from 32% to 9%
how does task difficulty effect conformity?
Asch made the lines very similar. Because it was harder to distinguish for the real p which was the correct answer conformity rose.
(AO3) ASCH- hint: replicability
lab study, this means that it can be replicated due to having high control over extraneous variables meaning the results can be confirmed. increases the reliability
(A03) ASCH- hunt: ethical issues
deception and this leads to a lack of informed consent
(AO3) ASCH- applicability to the world?
lacks population validity- gender bias and class
(A03) ASCH- hint: ecological validity
judging line lengths does not reflect real life tasks
