Conformity

Question 1

Asch (1955)

Procedure

Answer 1

• 123 men judged line lengths.
• Confederates deliberately gave incorrect answers.

Question 2

Asch (1955)

Findings

Answer 2

• Naïve participants conformed on 36.8% of the trials.
• 25% never conformed.

Question 3

Asch (1955)

Variables

Answer 3

• Group size.
• Unanimity.
• Task difficulty.

Asch performed variations of his baseline study to see if conformity would increase or decrease.

Question 4

Asch (1955) Evaluation

Evaluative Points

Answer 4

• Artificial Situation.
• Research Support.
• Limited Application.

Question 5

Asch (1955) Evaluation

Artificial Situation

Answer 5

• Participants knew they were in a research study.
• Too many demand characteristics.
• The ‘groups were not very groupy’ (ie. didn’t resemble groups you might find in everyday life).

Participant’s behaviours were due to their response to demand characteristics and acting as they felt they were supposed to do. The study did not generalise to real world situations.

Question 6

Asch (1955) Evaluation

Limited Application

Answer 6

• Participants were all American men.
• US is an individualist culture.
• Collectivist cultures (Eg. China) found conformity rates were higher.
• Women were found to be more conformist (Neto 1995).

Asch’s research tells us little about conformity in women and people from some cultures.

Question 7

Asch (1955) Evaluation

Research Support

Lucas et Al. (2005)

Answer 7

• Lucas et Al. (2006) asked participants to answer maths questions of varying difficulty.
• 3 confederates’ answers were read before the participant’s.
• The participants conformed more when the questions were harder.

Asch was correct in saying task difficulty affects conformity.

Question 8

Types and Explanations

Types

Answer 8

• Compliance.
• Identification.
• Internalisation.

Question 9

Types and Explanations

Explanations

Answer 9

• Informational Social Influence.
• Normative Social Influence.

Question 10

NSI Evaluation

Research Support

Answer 10

• (Asch 1955) when answers were written conformity dropped to 12.8%.

Writing answers removed normative group pressure.

Question 11

ISI Evaluation

Research support

Answer 11

• (Lucas et Al. 2005) Participants relied on other people’s answers on more difficult msths problems.

Question 12

Zimbardo (1971)

Procedure

Stanford Prison Experiment (SPE)

Answer 12

• 21 student volunteers randomly assigned guard or prisoner in a mock prison.
• Social roles created through uniforms and the guards had power over the prisoners.
• Supposed to last 14 days.

Question 13

Zimbardo (1971)

Events

Stanford Prison Experiment (SPE)

Answer 13

• 1/3 guards became increasingly more brutal.
• Prisoners rebellion on day 2 was quickly put down.
• Prisoners became depressed.
• Study ended after 6 days.

Question 14

Zimbardo (1971)

Conclusions

Stanford Prison Experiment (SPE)

Answer 14

• The participants conformed to their social roles.

Question 15

Zimbardo (1971) Evaluation

Control

Answer 15

• All participants were emotionally stable and randomly assigned roles.
• This reduced the impact of dispositional variables.
• Increased internal validity.

The participant’s behaviour could only be due to the social roles they were assigned and more confident conclusions could be drawn.

Question 16

Zimbardo (1971) Evaluation

Lack of Realism

Answer 16

• It was argued that the participants’ behaviour was based on stereotypes of how guards and prisoners were supposed to act.
• One guard admitted he based his behaviour on a character from the film ‘Cold Hand Luke’.
• Explains why prisoners rioted; that’s what prisoners do.

Findings of SPE tells us little about conformity to social roles in actual prison.

Question 17

Zimbardo (1971) Evaluation

Counterpoint

Lack of Realism

Answer 17

• In 2019, it was argued the participants behaved as if the prison was real to them.
• 90% of prisoners’ conversations were about prison life.
• “Prisoner 416” explained how he believed the prison was real.

SPE did replicate the social roles of prisoners and guards in a real prison setting, giving the study a high internal validity.

Question 18

Zimbardo (1971) Evaluation

Exaggerates the Power of Social Roles

Answer 18

• Zimbardo exaggerated the impact of social roles on behaviour.
• Only 1/3 of the guards behaved in a brutal mannor.
• An equal amount sympathised with the prisoners, offering cigarettes and reinstating privileges.
• Most participants resisted the situational pressures to conform.

Zimbardo overstated his view that SPE participants were conforming to social roles and minimised the influence of dispositional factors.

Question 19

Zimbardo (1971) Evaluation

Ethical Issues

Answer 19

• Zimbardo had a duty of care to the participants.
• Prisoners were subjected to physical and psychological abuse (e.g. Guards put prisoners in “the hole”, which was a cupboard you could not sit down in).
• The parole system challenged the participants’ rights to withdraw.
• The participant names were revealed in the results.

Question 20

Zimbardo (1971) Evaluation

Evaluative Points

Answer 20

• Control.
• Lack of Realism (+Counterpoint).
• Exaggerated the Power of Roles.
• Ethical Issues.

Question 21

Asch (1955) Variations

Group size

Answer 21

• Varied group size from 2-16.
• Conformity increased up to 3 then levelled off.

Question 22

Asch (1955) Variations

Unanimity

Answer 22

• The presence of a dissenter reduced conformity.

Question 23

Asch (1955) Variations

Task difficulty

Answer 23

• Made line lengths more similar.
• Conformity increased when the tasks were harder (ISI).

Question 24

Definition

nAffiliators

Answer 24

People who have a greater need for social relationships.

More affected by Normative Social Influence.