conformity

Question 1

when was the asch study

Answer 1

1951

Question 2

what was the aim

Answer 2

To see whether people would conform to a majority’s incorrect answer in an unambiguous task

Question 3

What’s an unambiguous task?

Answer 3

A task where the answer is obvious

Question 4

Conclusion of the study

Answer 4

The control condition showed that the task was easy to get right. However 37% were wrong on the critic trials - they confirmed to the majority due to normative social influence

Question 5

Results of the study

Answer 5

In the control trials, participants have the wrong answer 0.7% of the time. In the critical trails, participants conformed to the majority and gave the same wrong answer 37% of the time. 75% of participants conformed at least once. Afterwards, some participants said they didn’t really believe their answers, but didn’t want to look different.

Question 6

weakness of the study

Answer 6

In terms of ethics, the participants were deceived and might have been embarrassed when they found out the true nature of the study

Question 7

Strength of the study

Answer 7

It was a lab experiment so there was good control of the variables, this minimises the effects of extraneous variables

Question 8

Is the study reliable?

Answer 8

Yes, because there is strict control over the variables, so it’s easy to repeat the study to see if you get the same results

Question 9

Why does it lack ecological validity?

Answer 9

Participants weren’t in a natural situation. Whether they were right or wrong didn’t really matter to the participants, they might have been less likely to conform if their answer had real life consequences.

Question 10

What sort of experiment was it?

Answer 10

laboratory

Question 11

Was the study independent groups?

Answer 11

yes

Question 12

The method

Answer 12

In groups of 8, participants judged line lengths by saying out loud which comparison line (1,2,3) matched the standard line. Each group contained only one real participant and the others where confederates ( who acted like real participants but were really helping the experimenter). The real participant always went last, or one before last, so they heard the other answers before they said their own. Each participant did 18 trials. On 12 of these ( the critical trials) the confederates all gave the wrong answers.