CONFORMITY : asch Flashcards
How can Aschs research be said to be a child of its time - only relevant in the 50s
It can be said to be a child of its time
perrin and spencer repeated aschs original study with engineering students in the UK in the 1980s. Only one student conformed in a total of 396 trials.
It may be that the students felt more confident about measuring lines than the original sample and so they were less conformist
it can also be possible that the 1950s were an especially conformist time in america and so it made sense to conform. Society has changed since then and people are possibly less likely to conform today
Ethics in asch:
informed consent/ deception : Ps were lied to of the aim of the study they were told it was on visual discrimination when really it was on conformity- they were also unaware that all other ps were confederates
protection of participants : ps may have felt embarassed that they conformed
right to withdraw: ps may not have been given the right to withdraw
Why is asch internally valid ?
Aschs study is internally valid as it is a lab experiment so there is high control over extrenaous variables . e.g the naive p was always seated second to last
Is asch reliable ?
Yes as it is a lab study and it was replicated many times with similar findings. It is reliable as same results were found.
and 75% of ps conformed atleast once
Why does asch lack ecological validity?
People would not be asked to judge line length in every day life so it cant be applied to an everyday situation of conformity.
what are the strengths of asch ?
internally valid -control over extrenaous variables
replicable/ reliable
What is the conclusion of asch?
Normative social influence - ps didnt want to stand out so they conformed to the group and said the wrong answer publically but in private they disagreed and trusted their own judgement.
what % of ps conformed atleast once in asch ?
75%
What was the sample for Asch
123 male undergraduates
What was the aim of asch?
He wanted to see what would happen if ps were exposed to normative SI in a situation where there are no doubts about the correct answer to a queation
Demand characteristics in asch
demand characterisitcs were attempted to be controlled as the P was always seated second to last.
there may still be demand characteristics as it is a lab experiment ps may be able to work out they are involved in a study as confederates were giving the wrong answer of which line was the same as the standard line even though the answer was obvious.
They may have also said the wrong answer as its what they thought they were expected to do.
Why is asch ethnocentric and lacks population validity ?
123 male participants used so it cant be applied to females
ps were undergraduates so it cant be generalised to people who are not undergrads
US ps- its ethnocentric so it cant be applied to other cultures as only US ps were used. US is an individualistic culture so it cant be applied to collectivistic cultures.
Bond and smith found that conformity rates are higher in collectivistic cultures.
What are the weaknesses of asch ?
lab experiment- lacks ecological validity
deception
demand characteristics - lab experiment- attempted to be controlled
ethnocentric
lacks population validity
What were the findings of Asch from the 12 clinical trials ?
average conformity rate to the wrong answer was 33%
25% never conformed
75% conformed atleast once
Could aschs results have been affected by independent behaviour ?
Asch found that in 2 thirds of the trials the naive p stuck to their original judgement despite confederates giving the same wrong line as an answer.
This could mean that results were due to confidence rather than conformity. People may show independent behaviour rather than a tendency to conform
