Social Influence - Explanations of conformity Flashcards
Evaluation paragraphs
Research to support ISI as an explanation come from…
Jenness et al
What did Jenness get the ppts to do?
- Individually estimate number of jelly beans in a jar
- Then, decide on a group estimate
- Finally, have a last private individual guess
What did Jenness find?
Ppts second private guess was significantly closer to the group estimate than their first guess
How does this support ISI?
- Task was ambiguous
- Ppts were unsure of the answer
- Sought information from group and changed answer publicly and privately
Therefore, increasing the…
validity of ISI as an explanation of conformity.
However, research to support ISI as an explanation of conformity lacks…
Ecological validity
How does Jenness’s research lack ecological validity?
This is because the study took place in an artificial environment which was a lab
Therefore, it is difficult to…
- Generalise the findings that individuals conform due to desire to be right
- to real life examples of ISI
- As in real life, people may conform less as there may be consequences for their actions
Therefore, reducing the…
external validity of the research into ISI as an explanation of conformity
Research to support NSI as an explanation of conformity was conducted by…
Asch
What were ppts asked to do?
- Asked to state which line a, b, c was the same length as line x
- Confederates answered first and gave an incorrect answer
What did Ash find?
- Ppts conformed
- Gave the same wrong answer as the confederates 37% of the time
How does Asch’s study support NSI?
- Task was unambiguous
- Ppts later stated that they knew the answer but conformed to avoid ridicule from the group
Therefore, increasing the…
validity of NSI as an explanation of conformity
However, the research to support NSI as an explanation of conformity has…
gender bias
