Q+A Content Flashcards
When did the Asch test take place?
1951
What was Asch’s study testing?
Conformity
How many participants were in Asch study?
123 American males
How many confederates with one participant?
6-8
How was Asch line task set out?
1 standard line and 3 comparison lines and participant was asked which comparison line matched the standard
What did Asch find?
Participant gave wrong answer 36% of the time. Overall 75% of the participants conformed at least once. After being interviewed many said they conformed to avoid rejection
How did group size affect conformity?
With 3 confederates, conformity was at 31.8% but more made little difference
How did unanimity affect conformity?
A confederate was used who went against the others. Dissenting confederate reduced conformity by a quarter
How did task difficulty affect conformity?
Conformity increased when the lines became of a similar length making the task harder
What was the name of Zimbardos study?
Stanford Prison Experiment
Where was the SPE set up?
Took place in the basement of the psychology department at Stanford University
When was the STP?
1973
How did they get participants in the SPE?
Places were advertised and people volunteered
How were participants assigned roles in the SPE?
Participants were randomly assigned roles of guards or prisoners
How was the realism heightened in the SPE?
Prisoners were arrested at home, blindfolded and strip-searched, issued a number and uniform
What were the main findings of the SPE?
Study stopped after 6 days instead of 14 as guards behaviour became a threat to the prisoners.
Within 2 days the prisoners rebelled against the guards but guards harassed the prisoners and shut them down.
After, prisoners became depressed and some had to leave as they show psychological impacts
What were the conclusions of the SPE?
Everyone conformed to their social roles and the simulation revealed the power of the situation on people behaviour
Who and when did an experiment into obedience?
Milgram, 1963
Who were Milgram participants?
40 males aged between 20-50
How did Milgram recruit his participants?
Through adverts and flyers
Who was present at Milgrams experiment?
A confederate who was Mr Wallace acted as the ‘learner’
True participant was the ‘teacher’
Confederate as an ‘experiementer’
How did Milgrams study happen?
The learner was strapped into a chair
Teacher gave increasing electric shock every time learner got an answer wrong
Shock level went from 15V to top 450V
What prods were given forth experimenter to the participant?
Prod 1- Please continue
Prod 2- The experiment requires that you continue
Prod 3- It is absolutely essential that you continue
Prod 4- You have no other choice, you must go on
What did Milgram find?
None of the participants topped below 300V
12.5% stopped at 300V
65% continued to 450V
Participants were observed to be sweating and showing extreme signs of tension
Name the 3 situational variables
Proximity
Location
Uniform
How did proximity affect obedience?
When learner and teacher were in the same room obedience dropped from 65% to 40%
when the experimenter gave instructions over the phone obedience dropped to 20.5%
How did location affect obedience?
When study took place in a run down building obedience fell to 47.5%
How did uniform affect obedience?
Experimenter would wear normal clothes rather than a lab coat who obedience dropped to 20%
What is the autonomous state?
People in this state are free to behave according to their own principles and so feel a sense of responsibility towards their actions
What is the agentic shift?
This is a shift from the autonomous state to the agentic state
Milgram said this occurs when a person perceives another person ha greater power as they are a figure of authority
What are binding factors in relation to obedience?
These are aspects of the situation that allow the person to ignore the damaging effect of their behaviour and se lessening the moral strain
What is a consequence of legitimacy of authority?
People are granted the power to punish others
Who conducted a study into the authoritarian personality and when?
Adorno, 1950
Who was in Adornos study?
2000 middle class white Americans
What was Adorno looking into?
Participants unconscious attitudes to other racial groups using an F scale
What did Adorno find?
People with authoritarian leanings, those that scored high on the scale, identified with the ‘strong’
These people are very conscious of theirs and others social status
What are some of the authoritarian characteristics?
They have asocial tendency to obey people of authority
Have highly conventional attitudes to sex, race, gender etc.
Where did the authoritarian personality originate form?
A childhood of harsh parenting receiving strict discipline
