Lesson 3

Question 1

Asch (1956)

Answer 1

Placed a naive participant in a group with sever confederates. Group was asked to look at standard line and then decide individually which of three other test lines was the same length(no discussion to anyone else). Responses given one at a time out loud. Naive last participant to give answer so they heard rest of responses before giving their own.

Question 2

Confederate gave wrong answer how many times?

Answer 2

12 of the 18 trials

Question 3

How many answers were incorrect

Answer 3

33% of participants answer was incorrect
75% of participants conformed on at least 1 of 18 trials
5% conformed on every trial
25% did not conform on any trial

Question 4

What did the participants say when interviewed

Answer 4

Continued to trust own judgment but gave the same answer as the group to avoid disapproval (NSI)

Question 5

Three factors Asch evaluated

Answer 5

Group size
Task difficulty
Unanimity

Question 6

Group size

Answer 6

As the group increased to about 3/4 the amount of conformity increased as well. When the group size got to a certain point conformity did not to seem to increase in groups larger than four. (considered the optimal group size for conformity)

Question 7

Task Difficulty

Answer 7

When test lines were more similar in length so it was much harder to judge the correct answer. This caused conformity to increase possibly because ISI was starting to have an impact. We are uncertain and look to others for confirmation.

Question 8

Unanimity

Answer 8

When group was unanimous conformity increased. When only other person gave a different answer (group was not unanimous) conformity decreased. Just one confederate that disagreed from majority –> 33% to 5%. Someone else who refuses to conform makes it easier for us to resist

Question 9

Evaluation of Asch

Answer 9

Methodology was a laboratory experiment. Study was very controlled extraneous variables would not have affected validity of study

Lacks mundane realism / ecological validity (conformity usually social and experiment not realistic)

Gender bias (can’t be generalised)

Old (80 years ago) - people maybe more conformist then.

Question 10

What is a common problem with lab experiments

Answer 10

Lacks mundane realism ( doesn’t reflect real life)