Social Influence

Question 1

Strengths of Asch’s Conformity Lines Experiment

Answer 1

• Demonstrates how humans follow a heard
• Real life implications, e.g. knowledge of conformity may encourage scientists to think outside of the current paradigm
• High replicability as procedure is standardised (no. of confederates) so it can be repeated multiple times to check the reliability of findings and increase validity of conclusions drawn

Question 2

Weaknesses of Asch’s Conformity Lines Experiment

Answer 2

• Low ecological external validity as guessing line length is an artificial task so low generalisability of results to real world scenarios
• Beta bias as all participants were males, so it is unclear if the findings can be applied to females
• Ethical concerns as participants were not given informed, consent and told the study was about visual perception

Question 3

Strengths of Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment

Answer 3

• Real life applications as it demonstrates the influence of conformity on social roles on behaviour
• Reformed the way juvenile prisoners were treated at the time

Question 4

Weaknesses of Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment

Answer 4

• Demand characteristics leading to low external validity as participants knew that they were taking part in the study, and they have acted in a way they bought was expected of them
• Ethical concerns as one participant went ‘crazy’ After 35 hours and participants did not consent to all part of the experiment, e.g. arresting at home

Question 5

Strengths of Milgram’s Obedience Experiment

Answer 5

• Reliable results as they have been replicated several times
• Real life applications as a demonstrates how people obey authority figures, even when it is dangerous to do so (implications in society for junior doctors and nurses)

Question 6

Weaknesses of Milgram’s Obedience Experiment

Answer 6

• Ethical concerns as three participants had severe seizures due to the intense stress (however, they were debrief at the end, so it can be argued that the valuable findings outweigh the ethics in this experiment)
• Some psychologists believe participants did not actually believe the shocks were real, leading to invalid results, but at a later interview 75% of participants believe the shocks to be real, and the physiological symptom suggests that they believed it
• Participants were not given the right to withdraw as experimenter had to utter pods when resistance was shown like ‘you must carry on’