Conformity Asch A03

Question 1

What are the 4 evaluation points for Asch’s study?

Answer 1

• Artificial stimulation task
• Limited Application
• Research support
• Ethical Issues

Question 2

Outline the evaluation for Artificial stimulation task.

Answer 2

• Limitation is that situations were artificial
• Participants knew they were in a research study (demand characteristics)
• Trivial task of identifying lines is trivial = no real reason to conform
• Susan Fiske, groups didn’t really represent groups we experience in everyday life
• Means findings don’t generalise to real world situations, especially those where consequences of conformity may be important

Question 3

Artificial Stimulation Task (Limitation):

Artificial situations created what for participants?

Answer 3

• Participants knew they were in a research study (demand characteristics)

Question 4

Artificial Stimulation Task (Limitation):

Why did participants in Asch’s base line study have no reason to conform?

Answer 4

• Task of identifying lines is trivial = no real reason to conform

Question 5

Artificial Stimulation Task (Limitation):

What does Susan Fiske say about Asch’s baseline study?

Answer 5

• Susan Fiske, groups didn’t really represent groups we experience in everyday life

Question 6

Artificial Stimulation Task (Limitation):

According to Susan Fiske, what is the consequence of Asch’s baseline study groups not representing groups we experience in everyday life?

Answer 6

• Means findings don’t generalise to real world situations, especially those where consequences of conformity may be important

Question 7

Limited Application (Limitation):

Why does Asch’s study have limited application?

Answer 7

• Limitation is that participants were American men

Question 8

Limited Application (Limitation):

What does other research suggest about conformity?

Answer 8

• Other research suggests women may be more conformist

Question 9

Limited Application (Limitation):

What did conformist studies similar to Asch’s study conducted in collectivist countries find?

Answer 9

• Similar conformist studies conducted in collectivist cultures found that conformity rates are higher

Question 10

Limited Application (Limitation):

What do findings about conformity from collectivist cultures and on women mean for Asch’s study?

Answer 10

• Means Asch’s study tells us little about conformity in women and people from diff cultures

Question 11

Limited Application (Limitation):

What type of culture does the US have?

Answer 11

• The US is an individualist culture

Question 12

Outline the evaluation for Research Support.

Answer 12

• Strength is research support from other studies on task difficulty
• Todd Lucas et al.
• Asked ppt to solve easy and hard math problems
• Ppt were given answers from three other students
• Ppt conformed more often when problems were harder
• Shows Asch was correct in claiming task difficulty is one factor that affects conformity

Question 13

Research Support (Strength):

There is is research support from other studies supporting Asch on what?

Answer 13

• Strength is research support from other studies on task difficulty

Question 14

Research Support (Strength):

Who created the research support from other studies supporting Asch on task difficulty?

Answer 14

• Todd Lucas et al.

Question 15

Research Support (Strength):

What did Todd Lucas ask ppt to do in his research support from other studies supporting Asch on task difficulty?

Answer 15

• Asked ppt to solve easy and hard math problems

Question 16

Research Support (Strength):

What did Todd Lucas ask ppt to do in his research support from other studies supporting Asch on task difficulty?

Answer 16

• Ppt were given answers from three other students

Question 17

Research Support (Strength):

In Todd Lucas research support from other studies supporting Asch on task difficulty, what did he find about conformity?

Answer 17

• Ppt conformed more often when problems were harder

Question 18

Research Support (Strength):

What does Todd Lucas research support findings from other studies supporting Asch on task difficulty show about Asch’s study?

Answer 18

• Shows Asch was correct in claiming task difficulty is one factor that affects conformity

Question 19

Outline the counter evaluation for Research Support.

Answer 19

• Todd Lucas et al found that conformity is more complex than Asch suggested
• Ppt with high confidence in their math abilities conformed less on hard tasks than those with low confidence
• Shows Asch did not research into role of individual factors

Question 20

Outline the evaluation for Ethical Issues.

Answer 20

• Naïve ppt were deceived
• ppt thought others (confederates) were also genuine ppt

Question 21

Outline Asch’s Baseline study

Answer 21

• 123 Americans tested
• two large white cards
• line X on left side is the standard line ad lines ABC were the comparison lines
• one comparison line is always clearly the same length as the standard line and the other two were substantially different
• Participants were asked to say out loud which comparison line was the same as the standard line
• There was only one genuine participant and they didn’t know everyone else was fake participants