Key Studies Flashcards
What did Asch study in 1951 & 1955?
Asch conducted research into conformity
What was Asch’s procedure?
- Gathered 50 males, who were undergraduates from the USA
- Placed them individually in a room of 7 other confederates
- Shown 5 lines (one stimulus and 4 others) they had to choose which on the 4 lines were equal
- The confederates decided beforehand that they would choose the obvious incorrect answer to see if the naive participant would follow suit
What were the results of Asch’s study?
- 75% of naive Pps conformed at least once, 25% did not
- In the control, with no confederates, less than 1% provided the wrong answer
- Asch discovered that his Pps decisions were heavily influenced by NSI & ISI
What three variables did Asch study?
1) Unanimity
2) Task Difficulty
3) Group Size
How did Asch study unanimity?
- Asch introduced a confederate Pps to disagree with the confederates who were providing the wrong answer to break up complete uanimity.
- He discovered that conformity among naive Pps dropped by 80%.
- This is because the prescence of a dissenter allowed the naive Pps to be free in voicing their opinion
How did Asch study task difficulty?
- He made all the lines seem equal to the stimulus line
- He discovered an increase in ISI
How did Asch study group size?
- He slowly introduced confederates to the room, starting at one
- He discovered that only 3 confederates were needed for optimum conformity
What are two advantages of Asch’s study?
- Asch’s study was conducted in a lab = More control of extraneous and confounding variables = High external validity, meaning results are reliable
- The reliability of Asch’s data means that the study can be repeated = This is allows researchers to research whether conformity changes over time
What are two disadvantages of Asch’s study?
- Asch’s study cannot be generalised among all cultures = This is because Asch conducted his study in America (individualistic culture) rather than a collectivist culture, such as China = This is because confomirty tends to be higher in collectivist cultures
- Conducted in a lab experiment = Artificial = Lacked ecological validity = Pps would have gathered they were being studied due to surroundings = increasing chance of demand characteristics
What did Zimbardo study in 1973?
In 1973, Zimbardo conducted the Stanford Prison Experiment to study conformity to social roles
What was Zimbardo’s procedure?
- Gathered 24 male participants from the USA, who had no physical or mental difficulties
- He split them up randomly into two gorups and assigned each group a role (either guards or prisoners)
- The prisoners were unexpectedly arrested by the local police department and put in ‘jail’ in a converted university basement
- The guards were instructed to keep the prison in order and control the prisoners
- Over time, the guards became demeaning and physically violent with the prisoners
What were Zimbardo’s results?
- He quickly discovered that all of his participants played up to their role, even if the role went against their morals and principles
- The prisoners began rebelling, the guards became violent and demeaning
What did Zimbardo conclude?
People will quickly conform to the role which they believe is expected of them
What are two advantages of Zimbardo’s research?
- Zimbardo had strict control over who was selected = Only males who were physically and mentally stable = high internal validity
- The roles were realistically reinforced = E.g. prisoners were unexpectedly arrested = Real emotion and action was shown
What are two disadvantages of Zimbardo’s research?
- Zimbardo’s study cannot be generalised = Only male participants were selected = Studies show that females are more likely to conform than men
- Ethical issues = Harm = Some males were severely stressed and some wre not mentall stable due to the treatment
