conformity: aschs research ao3 Flashcards
strength - research support (for task dff)
P; one strength of aschs research is support from other studies for effects of task difficulty
EE: eg lucas et al 2006 asked ppt to sove “easy” and “hard” maths problems. ppt were given answers from 3 other students and it was found that the ppt agreed with the wrong answers more often when the problems were harder
L; therefore, asch was correct in claiming that task dfficulty is one variable that affects conformity and therefore supports his findings
counterpoint to strength of research support for task diff
P; however lucas et al study also found that conformity is more complex than asch first suggested
EE; ppt w high confidence in their maths ability were found to conform less on hard tasks than those with low confidence
L; this shows that an indiviual - level factor can influence conformity by interacting with situational variables (task diff) which is something asch didnt take into account
weakness - limited application of findings
P; a limitation of aschs research is his biased sample of 123 male students from colleges in america
E: other research suggests that women might be more conformist bc they are more concerned about social relationhips then men (neto 1995)
E: furthermore, aschs study was conducted in united states an individualist culture where ppl are more concerned about themselves rather than their social group.
studies done in collectivist cultures where social group is more important than the individual have found that conformity rates are higher (bond and smith) 1996
L: this shows that conformity levels are sometimes even higher than what asch found. his findings tell us little about conformity in collectivist cultures and women. his biased sample means his findings cannot be generalised.
weakness - artificial stimuli
P - one limitation is that in this study the task and situation were artificial
E- ppt knew they were in a research study and may have simply gone along with what was expected of them. the task of identifying lines was relatively trivial and therefore there was really no reason to conform
E- also according to fiske 2014 asch groups werent very “groupy” meaning they didnt resemble groups in everyday life
L: this means the findings cannot be generalised to real world situations especially those where the consequences of conformity might be important
