SB 3 - Mori and Arai

Question 1

Aims

Answer 1

To find out if similar results to Asch could be obtained without using confederates.
To find out if gender or culture made any difference to the overall results.

Question 2

Participants

Answer 2

104 Japanese undergraduates participants, who knew each-other, took part
40 men and 64 women
All participants had normal eyesight

Question 3

Method

Answer 3

Participants wore filter glasses that allowed them to watch the same video but see different things (known as the MORI technique).
There were several groups of four, with one participant in each group having been given a different type of filter in the glasses. This filter made them perceive a different line length to the others in their group. Each participant stated their answer out loud, with the minority participant going third.

Question 4

Results

Answer 4

Female participants conformed to the majority in about a quarter of cases.
Male participants did not conform to the majority view.
Contrary to Asch’s findings, the frequency of conformity of minority participants was almost the same regardless of whether the majority answered unanimously or not.

Question 5

Conclusion

Answer 5

This experiment showed similar conformity patterns to Asch in 1952, but was very different in one respect; there was no conformity among minority men.

Question 6

Evaluation - Strengths

Answer 6

There were no actors (confederates), so the behaviours should have been more natural and realistic, raising the ecological validity of the findings.
No participants suspected that they were seeing different lines, which increases the validity of results.
Participants knew each other so it is more relevant to the real world.
This is where we would normally conform to our peers/friends/family etc.
This is high in ecological validity/mundane realism.
The study used males and females.
As the experiment was highly controlled (done in a lab setting), making the results more valid.

Question 7

Evaluation - Weaknesses

Answer 7

The study was conducted in Japan, which has a collectivist culture/where people are more likely to conform.
This means that findings cannot be generalised to other cultures.
Based in a lab, so lacks ecological validity.