Aschs Study Flashcards
Why was Asch’s study carried out?
To asses to what extent people would conform to the opinions of others even when the answer is unambiguous
Explain the baseline study of Asch
-123 white American men, each in a group with other apparent pp’s.
-each group saw 2 white cards on each trial, one with 1 stimulus line and the other had 3 comparison lines labelled ABC.
-the pp’s had to select one line from the 3 that matched the line on the separate card. there was always one clear answer and the other two were substantially different
-on each trial the pp’s had to say aloud their answer
Explain the physical arrangements of pp’s in Asch’s study and types of pp’s
pp’s were in groups of 6-8. Only one ppt was a genuine, naive ppt, the rest were confederates of Asch The naive ppt was always seated last or second to last in the group. The confederate pp’s gave scripted answers that were purposely wrong, the naive ppt didn’t know this
Explain the findings of Asch’s research
on average, the naive pp’s agreed with the confederates 36.8% of the time. 25% of pp’s never conformed.
How did Asch further investigate conformity?
Investigated variables that might lead to an increase of decrease of conformity
What 3 variables did Asch change in his study?
Group size
Unanimity
Task difficulty
How and why did Asch manipulate group size? What were the results?
Wanted to know whether the size of the group would be more important than the agreement of the group. Varied the number of confederates from 1-15. Found a curvilinear relationship between size and conformity, as conformity increased with group size. This suggests that most people are very sensitive to the views of others as even with only a group size of 2-3, people still conformed
How and why did Asch manipulate unanimity? What were the results?
Wondered if the presence of a non conforming person would affect the naive pp’s conformity. Added a confederate that disagreed with the other confederates. One variation saw the confederate giving the right answer but the other saw the confederate give a different wrong answer. The results found that the naive ppt conformed less in the presence of a dissenter. Rate of conformity decreased to less than a quarter of the level it was when all confederates gave the same wrong answer. Suggests that the influence of the majority depends on the extent of unanimity and non conformity is more likely to occur when there are differing views
How and why did Asch manipulate task difficulty? What were the results?
Wanted to know whether making the task harder would affect the degree of conformity. He increased the difficulty by making the stimulus line and comparison lines more similar to each other in length so the naive ppt couldn’t see the differences as clearly. He found that conformity increased when the task is more ambiguous and difficult as the answer is unclear. In these circumstances, it is natural to look for others for guidance and assume they are right
what is a strength of Asch’s study? (IV)
high internal validity. this is because Asch’s results supported his hypothesis - he measured what he set out to measure as the procedure proved that pps would conform despite knowing they were giving a wrong answer. Also the study was in a lab, controlled and standardised procedures. This is a strength because the study has high reliability and can be repeated to produce a similar set of results
explain one limitation of Asch’s study (EV)
low ecological validity. the task itself is artificial and doesn’t represent everyday life and experience. Also the study took place in a lab so pps may have been demonstrating DCs and gone along with other pp’s and gave an incorrect answer as that’s what they believed the researcher was expecting. Means findings can’t be generalised and doesn’t acc tell us about conformity and the important consequences of it in the real world.
Explain one limitation of Asch’s study (ethics)
Despite the study increasing our knowledge of conformity, there were several ethical issues that are an issue within the research. The naive pp’s were deceived, as they believed all the other pp’s were also genuine pp’s and not confederates with scripted answers. Also, this means that the naive pp’s couldn’t fully consent to the study since they didn’t realise the true meaning and aim of the procedure. This is a limitation because it decreases the credibility of the research
Explain a limitation of Asch’s study (PV)
It has low population validity. This is because all of Asch’s pp’s were white American men. Other research surrounding conformity suggests women are more likely to conform, as they are more concerned about social relationships than men. Also, the US is an individualist culture, but alternate research tells us conformity rates are higher in collectivist cultures such as China. This means that Asch’s research tells us little about conformity in groups other than American men and has low population validity.
