Aschs Study Flashcards
What was the aims of aschs study?
To see if participants conformed to majority social influence and give incorrect answers in a situation where the answers were clear
What was the procedure of aschs study?
He said they were taking part in line perception study
Consisted of 123 male American students
They were put In groups of 7 where they would have to say which two lines were the same length
They took turns to call which was the standard line
The real participant always answered near end
12 were critical trials
What were the findings of aschs experiment?
33% average conformity rate
75% conformed at least once
He conducted a control group to make sure that the test was unambiguous and 1% made mistakes
How did group size affect the findings?
Increasing group size increases conformity as the pressure to fit in increases upto a certain point
How does unanimity affect conformity?
Conformity decreases if the unanimity of the group is broken as the pressures to fit in decrease.
How does the difficulty of the task affect conformity rates?
It increases the rate of conformity , this is evident when asch made the distance between the lines even smaller. This suggests that when the situation is unclear we are more likely to conform due to isi.
Explain 3 disadvantages of aschs research
- His research was conducted when conformity levels were high in that particular period of time. Cultural change as taken place since. Perrin and spencer repeated aschs research and found only one conforming response out of 396 trials.
- Demand characteristics- may guess the aims and act un natural to please asch. This is a problem as it would lower internal validity . Additionally it lacks mundane realism as it was conducted in a lab setting .
3.asch used an all male sample
For example women may conform more as they are more concerned about social relationships than men. As well is just being men they were all from the US. People from china may conform more. He didn’t take into account gender and cultural differences.
What’s one strength of asch study?
He conducted the study in a lab setting which is highly controlled
Therefore extraneous variables were controlled
He could also control the seating of the participants
Highers internal validity
