Social Influence - Variables affecting conformity Flashcards
Research to support task difficulty as a variable affecting conformity was conducted by…
Lucas et al
What did Lucas get his ppts to do?
- Asked students to solve ‘easy’ and ‘hard’ maths problems
- Ppts were given 3 other answers from other ‘students’ (not actually real)
What did Lucas find?
Ppts conformed more often when the problems were difficult rather that easy.
How does this support task difficulty?
- Supports task difficulty because it suggests when task is harder
- Conformity increases
Therefore, increasing the…
validity of task difficulty as a variable affecting conformity.
However, Lucas et al’s study found that conformity is more…
complex than Asch suggested.
Who conformed less?
- Ppts with high confidence in their maths abilities conformed less
- Ppts with low confidence conformed more
This shows that an…can…conformity
individual-level factor…influence…
…Asch’s research into variables affecting conformity
Limiting
Asch’s research into variables affecting conformity can be criticised as it has…
gender bias
Why does Asch’s research has gender bias?
Only males were tested
What does it make it hard to do with findings?
Generalise the findings to females
Why can’t the findings be generalised to females?
- Suggests that females might be more conformists
- Because they are more concerned about social relationships and more concerned about being liked by their peers (Netto, 1995)
This shows that there are some…more than the variables suggested.
factors which determines someone’s level of conformity
This weakens the…of research into variables affecting conformity.
external validity
Asch’s research can also be criticised for…
culture bias
Why can Asch’s study be criticised for being cultured bias?
- Research was conducted in America
- Which is a western, individualistic culture
Therefore, it is difficult…to…
to generalise the findings…non-western, collectivists cultures such as China
What do a non-western collectivists culture believe?
- Social groups are more important than the individual
- More likely to conform and agree with the group to be liked
- Bond and Smith 1996
This weakens the…of research into variables affecting conformity
external validity
