L3 - variables affecting conformity

Question 1

asch procedure

Answer 1

placed pp in a group with confederates
asked to look at a standard line and individually decide which of the test lines was the same length without discussing
gave responses one at a time out loud
answer was obvious but confederates gave wrong answer on 12/18 trials
pp was last or second to last to give response

Question 2

asch findings

Answer 2

chance of making genuine mistake = 1%
33% of responses by pp were incorrect
75% of pp conformed in at least 1/18 trials
5% of pp conformed in every trial
asch interviewed pp after and they said they knew which was right and gave same answer to avoid disapproval (NSI)

Question 3

what are the 3 variables asch investigated to affect conformity

Answer 3

group size
task difficulty
unanimity

Question 4

how does group size affect conformity

Answer 4

1 confederate = 3% conformity
2 confederates = 13% conformity
3 confederates = 32% conformity
little change to conformity once groups reach 4 or more confederates

Question 5

how does task difficulty affect conformity

Answer 5

made lines closer in length
conformity increased due to ISI
more uncertain so look to others for conformation

Question 6

how does unanimity affect conformity

Answer 6

unanimity (everyone agreed) - conformity increased
when one gave a different answer that wasn’t pp, conformity dropped to 5% with right answer
when a confederate gave a different answer that was wrong conformity dropped to 9%

Question 7

one strength of aschs study

Answer 7

carefully controlled in a lab setting
control over extraneous variables
therefore any change in results due to change of independent variable and its effect on dependant variable
shows direct cause and effect so reliable

Question 8

3 weaknesses of asch

Answer 8

• lacks temporal validity, conducted 80 years ago, people may have been more conformist then due to post-war attitudes about working together
• lacks mundane realism and ecological validity as task is artificial and unlikely to occur in real life, conformity usual happens in social context with known people rather than strangers
• ethical issues, deception (pps thought they were taking a test of perception), lack of informed consent and psychological harm
  (+) however ethical issues are arguable necessary to prevent demand characteristics which would decrease validity