Outline Asch's Study into Conformity

Question 1

Types of Conformity Asch’s study

Answer 1

-123 male undergraduate P’s
- They were given 18 unambiguous perceptual problems “to assess their visual activity”
- 7-9 individuals were tested around a table and they had to match the standard line to 3 other lines of differing lengths
-There was 1 real participant, the rest were confederates
-On the 18 trials, the P’s had to call out their answers, the genuine answer was 2nd to last
- The correct answer was always obvious, but the confederates have unanimous wrong answers 12/18 times

Question 2

What were the findings of Asch’s study?

Answer 2

• Participants conformed to the majority’s wrong answer 32% of the time.
• Of the control group mistakes were only made 1% of the time.
• 75% of P’s conformed at least once.
• When Asch interviewed his Ps afterwards, he discovered that the majority of participants who conformed had continued privately to trust their own perceptions and judgements, but changed their public behaviour, giving incorrect answers to avoid censure from other group members

= (i.e. supporting the concept of compliance)

Question 3

Describe Asch’s study being a lab based-experiment:

Answer 3

• It was a lab based study with tight controls over extraneous variables and an unambiguous task
• This means the results have hight internal validity
• It’s a straightforward standardised feature meaning it can be easily replicated

-However, the task and situation is artificial so the research may lack ecological validity
- In everyday life, conformity usually takes place with groups who we know, not strangers, and is often abut attitudes rather than facts
-It may not be an accurate demonstration of conformity in everyday life

Question 4

Describe Asch’s study lacking temporal validility

Answer 4

-It was carried out in the US in the late 1940’s at the start of the Cold War
- At the time, conformity in the US was high
-Smith and Bond reviewed studies using Asch’s task in the united states and concluded levels of conformity had steadily declined since the study
- Therefore, the results may not be applicable to todays population due to changes in societal attitudes and norms

Question 5

Describe Asch’s study lacking population validility

Answer 5

• Bond and Smith reported a meta-analysis of cross-cultural studies of conformity using Asch’s experimental design
• The highest figure was 58% incorrect answers for Indian teachers in Fiji, and the lowest figure was 14% among Belgian students.
  -Thus, this raises the possibility that levels of conformity ) vary considerably from culture to culture.